We were somewhere close to the capital.
Papa Crow reported complete air superiority over the city, and with the air support’s way clear, we can start the ground assault.
The tank will try to force the enemy inside of the city walls, and then the allied armies will besiege.
The most obvious step would be to actually start with wiping the enemy out when they are outside, but we have such an overwhelming firepower that a stationary target is preferable.
Not to mention, we better have the initiative in plotting the strikes.
‘WRRRRrrr’
As the tank stopped, I got line of sight on the capital.
Even from the distance it was clear, that this is not comparable to the city we attacked previously.
On the maps it was clearly marked that there are several lines of walls, and many fortifications even inside. As the city grew, the walls were constructed further and further.
“Not bad, ha?”
“This is crazy.” (J)
“Any ideas?”
“None, Commander. This is too much to be something we could take on right off the bat.” I nodded.
If the Kremlin is a huge old fortress, than this would be a HUGE medieval fortress with layered defenses, and towers everywhere.
I must make a decision that is outside the box, and make it fast, because when we are spotted, we would lose all possible advantages.
“Old man, forward! Drive as fast as possible!”
‘wrRRWRRRR’
During the short time we were standing, I noted that there are several roads leading into the fortress, and all of them are cluttered with wagons.
When we were closer, the wagons started flooding into the city. Previously they were halted by a security check but now the enemy tried to squeeze everything inside indiscriminately.
For most it was too late.
“Turret to azimuth 180!”
“Understood!” (J)
“Ram them!”
I was still aiming at covering our advantage in firepower, so instead of using the gun I decided to have the wagons crushed by the tracks.
“Just try not to kill us!” Jester called out to Old man.
“No promises! Brace for impact!” (O)
‘BANG’
‘POM’
‘WRRR’
‘BOM’
‘WRWRRRWRRRRR’
‘CRACKLE’
‘WRRRRR’
The tank drew all of the wagons we managed to catch. All the way from the gatehouse, to the last wagon in the back.
Coachmen and passengers were jumping out and running around, as the tank rolled over the wagons.
Horses tried to run away, and some broke off and fled, while some were killed under the tracks.
War never chooses whom to kill. It kills whoever stays in its way.
All we can do, is to either dare to put aside the gun and risk death, or to kill and burden the responsibility to our last day.
‘WRRRrr’
I glanced through the optics. The situation outside was chaotic but the objective was completed.
“On to the next road! We need to try get rid of as many of them as we can!”
Whatever those wagons had: ammo, fuel, spare parts, and soldiers, we ought to destroy the enemy logistics while we can.
The same crazy process was repeated again on the second road. The enemy didn’t warn them in time.
The capital was connected to three major roads. Two of them were severed in a flashy way.
I was not expecting the third road to be success. It took us a lot of time to just drive around the walls.
By the time we arrived to the last main road, there shouldn’t be any wagons staying.
But there were.
“Are they idiots…?” I couldn’t help questioning their reasoning.
The walls were completely manned. Long poles of spears were protruding from behind the battlements. Archers were constantly clattering the turret roof. The enemy even sortied a small squad of cavalry, which was cautiously trotting between the wall and us.
But they didn’t let the wagons in.
“Just what so unimportant those idiots have in there?!”
The craziest thing is, the people already left the wagons, and were standing in the field nearby.
“THEY FREAKING KNOW WE ARE COMING, AND THEY STILL DO THIS?!”
“ARGH! FOR F* SAKE! JUST F* ROLL OVER THOSE F* IMBECILES AND GET RID OF THIS GARBAGE!”
With my own reasoning thrown out of the hatch, I just relaxed in the seat (as much as one can when he has to hold onto it), and left the job to Old man’s discretion.
Not sure any tank commander would, in an active combat zone, order his driver to crush horses and wooden carriages under the tank. As far as I'm aware, crushing cars in real life is only done out of necessity or as a demonstration, because otherwise the risk of throwing a track is way too big. And for a tank, throwing a track in a combat zone is a potential death sentence.
I justify it by the necessity to avoid firing the cannon and the machine gun, and simultaneous need to get rid of the supplies coming to the enemy.
I wonder how high the risk is. Do you happen to have videos of tanks throwing a track because of driving over such obstacles?
Pulled this from a quora answer about how common it is for tanks to throw tracks:
"Not as commonly as is portrayed in Hollywood. In the movies, things like hand grenades can blow tracks off. But not in real life. In the movies anti-personnel mines can break a track. But not in real life.
Tracks can be mis-guided in one of three modes:
1. Actual track breakage. This can be caused by an anti-tank weapon, an anti-tank mine, or mechanical failure (such as metal fatigue or loosening of the hardware which connects individual track blocks). An AT warhead can cause a breakage, but this is not common, as the track is a small proportion of the overall area of the tank. AT mines can break the track. Mechanical failure is fairly rare, because crews periodically inspect the track strand for loose hardware. There is a long-standing myth among tankers that urinating on the track connectors will somehow cause enough corrosion to keep the nuts from vibrating off, but this has more to do with kidney maintenance than track maintenance.
2. Track misguiding. Tracks can be thrown by uneven terrain when a side-slope allows the running surface of the track to develop an angle relative to the roadwheels. This allows the wheels to roll up over the center guides. It can often be corrected without tools by slowly reversing the sprocket motion and allowing the sprocket to act as a winch to pull the track strand back onto the center guides. In extreme cases, the track must be disconnected, realigned, and reconnected. The crew has the ability and tools to do this without assistance.
3. Dynamic misguiding. At high speeds the track strand may develop a standing wave as it makes the turn around the front idler. Most tanks have a "compensating idler link" which translates jounce motion of the #1 roadwheel arm into forward displacement of the idler. This restores the total circumference of the track strand, and can also dampen the standing wave if it develops.
In any of these cases, the tank will be accompanied by other tanks. While the recovery operation is in progress, either other tanks or accompanying infantry will provide protection for the temporarily immobilized tank.
Overall, the problem of a "thrown track" can best be minimized by avoiding it in the first place. Tank crews soon learn what causes track misguiding and avoid the terrains and driving techniques which lead to it. This is a relatively minor problem in combat."
From this, it's not that common, but I can see that a combination of the rough terrain caused by the piles of debris that used to be wooden carts, the goods they carried, and the horses that pulled them potentially acting as a side slope as described in point 2, as well as the... gunk... from those horses getting into the track linkages and between the tracks and rollers exacerbating the problem, there's enough risk combined with tanker training emphasizing that you're not meant to close in with infantry, that I'm not sure if a tank commander would think to order this kind of action just to preserve ammo, and I'm not sure an experienced driver would accept such orders even if they were given.
All that said, that's in real life, and in real life tanker crews aren't randomly transported to another world either, so you know. You're the author, you've got creative license to do as you please. Though I would suggest a scene where your crew has to clean the horses out of the treads...
@Doomedtundra Thank you very much for information! This detailed info will be very useful!
Where the hell is the enemies information gathering units or spy agents!? shouldn't they already be aware of a heavily armored wagon but fast enough that their cavalry can't catch up to and with a cannon that fires much stronger and accurate than the once they have and impervious to their weapons? Just how disorderly this invasion army is?
Imagine: You are commander of, let's say, US army. Suddenly an unshaved soldier in tattered uniform barges in and shouts: "SIR! WE ENCOUNTERED AN ALIEN! IT ANNIHILATED THE ENTIRE SQUAD WITH ONE SHOT, AND THEN TELEPORTED AWAY! SIR! NUKE THE ENTIRE AREA, PLEASE!". Now, tell me, is this report going to be answered?
The same here: even if there are patchy reports of encounter with an unknown armored vehicle, and most of the traces of its activity are in the enemy territory, and few witnessed it - would they believe? It is way too unthinkable. Not to mention: the capital is far from the areas where she fought previously, and since the tank approached the area, the crew was quite accurate not to leave too many traces of them, and too much information about their capabilities.
Not to mention, that the enemy commanders would at least compare the reports to the known weaponry, like modern military would compare an alien weaponry to their own, or use contemporary standards as a reference.
Until there is enough information - there are ought to be mistakes.
And finally, how the hell do you expect them to respond? Send an entire army? Shut themselves in the fortress (which was done)? Run away, and leave the entire conqured territory? If there was just the tank, that would be solvable, but there is also a very obvious army marching behind, and which is not going to just abandon their main firepower.