May 11th, 1940. 

 Ever since the fighting began last month, the Internationale had been furiously attacking up and down the Maria Line to try and crack it, with their attempts leading to only huge losses of life and a lot of equipment, mostly tanks used by the French Commune armored divisions that were sent to this front to help the Iberian Army. 

 Sitting inside a tent in a FOB on the outskirts of a small town an hour away from the front, with his brow furrowed and a lit cigar in his mouth was an older man with a recently shaved beard and a stern expression. His name was General Louise Leone and he is currently reading the latest casualty and mechanical losses report from the front. 

"Merde" He curses with an annoyed tone as he sets the report down and rubs his eyes

As a former soldier of the old regime during the 1st Weltkrieg, Louise had seen his fair share of horror and gore on the front, serving as a machine gunner before joining the revolutionaries in the final days of the war in 1919 when he finally lost faith in the regime and fought against his former comrades. He had thought that the new tactics and equipment of this new war he found himself in, would lead to a lesser loss of life for his soldiers, but unfortunately, it did not. 

"To think we would have a hard time cracking this half-assed obstacle they call a defense line, what in the world is happening" He said as he shook his head and stepped out of the tent 

His sight was filled with the sight of a platoon of Brabant S35s cruising by followed by trucks filled with Iberian and French infantrymen, although his division had been dispatched to assist the Iberian Army with their armor, it felt more like babysitting them for the most part as the Iberian Army was still a very dysfunctional military force since most of the soldiers were partisans organized into militia divisions with some former professional soldiers of the royal army. What's more, the Iberian Federation itself was not wholly prepared for the war they now found themselves in, with the economy of the nation projected to not recover for another two years and the industry even longer still as a lot of the heavy industry was scorched by royalists during the civil war. The leader of the federation thought otherwise, he was one hotheaded man named Juanito Escanto and for whatever reason that escaped everyone, declared that the Iberian Federation was ready to join the Internationale's cause and destroy the old world order. 

A sigh escaped his lips as he made his way across the FOB, his eyes turned to the sky and he saw several squadrons of Br.460 medium bombers being escorted by L.250 fighters, an unsettling feeling sinking into him as he was unsure of the outcome of the future. But just like any other man in the commune army, he was determined to see it through to the end, even if it meant sending more men to die for the greater good of their nation. 

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That same day, 7:00 pm, somewhere in the southern portion of the Maria Line. 

Sitting near a tree overlooking a stretch of road that emerged from the corner or a hill, dressed in her standard uniform but with a large rain jacket covering her,  her rifle clutched tightly, and looking down the sights while allowing the rain and wind to blow around and on her was the newly promoted Capt. Maria Alponisa who was in command of a reconnisance and early warning squad. Her objectives were to currently watch a strategic roadway linking to the defensive line designated Highway 202. 

Maria had been newly promoted a week ago as a lot of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers had died across the defensive battles on the line, battles that she had participated in and had racked up quite a streak of kills despite it all. Being a sniper, she was given command of a squad of 6 other riflemen and a machine gunner and was assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Company of the 8th Infantry Division. The soldiers under her command were just fresh out of basic training and had never seen any combat before, and she was assigned to assist a similarly green anti-tank gun platoon that had 3 2-pounder guns set up in ambush positions in the shrubbery on either side of the road. 

She let out a sigh as she lowered her rifle, looking behind her and seeing one of her squadmates quickly running up to her, 

"Private Roque, what is it?" She asked as she quickly resumed her earlier stance of looking down the sights of her sniper rifle 

"One of the other squads has picked up radio chatter Ma'am. They are not our signals and they seem to match Commune and Iberian broadcasting patterns" The young private answered as he knelt beside his commander, looking out at the stretch of road as well

"Hmm, seems that they will make their move soon. Thankfully, they don't assume we have stretched out this far, they probably think we are further back resting on the fortifications of the line...tell everyone to get ready" Maria stated as she shot him a glance, 

"Yes Ma'am!" The young private stated as he began to run off and perform his orders 

'sigh....another battle to win' She thought as she continued to look through her rifle, the rain coming down even harder now 

The captain was right as fifteen minutes later, artillery guns in the distance began to roar and shells began landing on the fortifications behind them, then sounds of tanks rumbling through the rain and the following sights of a column with a platoon of Brabant S35 tanks rounding the corner with half a dozen trucks filled with infantry made the Portuguese troops in hiding tense up a bit. 

In the front of the column was a Laffy S15R half-track that had the commander of the group in the front seat with a canvas cover over the half-track thanks to the rain. 

As the column was nearing the Portuguese positions, Maria was busy tracking her target. She relaxed and took a deep breath before firing off her shot, the crack of the rifle filling the air followed by the driver of the half-track violently jerking back as the bullet struck him, with his blood paining the soldiers resting in the back before the half-track veered off the road and into a ditch. 

{!} 

Suddenly, the 2-pounder anti-tank guns hiding in wait finally opened up, the trio of guns roared as their shells struck the first two S35s and then the rear S35, knocking out all three tanks. The Iberian and Commune infantry began disembarking but were cut down by rifle and machine gun fire waiting for them, the cracking of Lee-Enfields and Madsen machine guns filling the air and creating a more hectic situation as the Syndicalists were trying to see where the hell the enemy was in order to fire back. 

With the battle in full swing, Maria was busy sniping from her position slightly moving behind the tree to use it as cover just in case someone spotted her. Despite the rain pouring down on them, she was still able to track and kill her targets. She saw an Iberian machine gunner try to get some higher ground to provide better covering fire and she dropped him with a shot to the side of the head, she then switched targets and dropped another three Communard riflemen trying to provide covering fire for their commander and his squad, her shots either striking the chest or the head just like she was trained. 

After cycling through to her second-to-last round, Maria tensed up as bullets landed on the tree she was using as cover, shielding her from the enemy fire that almost claimed her life. She quickly got up and ran down the path leading up to this position and stopped by a small shed on the side of the path to reload her weapon which she quickly did before making her way back up to but this time a few feet away from where she was originally. She then looked down her sight again and fired off another shot, cutting down another Communard rifleman atop one of the still active S35s, with the bullet striking him in the center of his back making him fall off the tank before the tank itself got struck by another 2-pounder round which caused a geyser of flames to erupt from the turret. 

As the battle continued, the Portuguese forces were able to inflict a lot of casualties on the Iberian and Communard forces while only suffering a few wounded. But as the fighting continued, another column of tanks and trucks was soon sighted rounding the corner which rallied the survivors of the initial ambush to fight harder. 

Rushing down to the radio station further behind the fighting, Maria quickly arrived at the station short of breath

"Order all units to retreat back to the line, we cannot hold them here" she stated as she looked at the radio operator 

"Understood Ma'am" The radio operator replied as he began to send out her orders

Her orders were quickly received by the anti-tank gun platoon who fired smoke shells to confuse and blind the enemy as they began to quickly pack up, to continue keeping the enemy at bay and buy them more time, Maria ordered an artillery strike on them just to keep them occupied, she rallied her squad who met up with her along with three more platoons who had just arrived as the anti-tank guns were pulling out being towed by trucks. 

"Alright everyone, we will be skirmishing with the enemy as we fall back to the main defenses, first platoon you are with us, second platoon will be covering the left flank and third platoon for the right, we are to just keep the enemy at bay while we slowly retreat towards the line" 

"Understood Ma'am" The soldiers replied

"Good, everyone hop to it now, the artillery barrage is about to stop" Maria ordered, with the soldiers doing as they were told 

'It's going to be a long fight ahead' She thought as she began booking it with her squad to their hastily prepared positions