T w e n t y S i d e d

Girls und Panzer: The Battle We Can’t Back Down From!!!

A title that seems more appropriate for the second episode of the Pravda battle, after Miho and the other Oarai students learn the Sensha-do team MUST win the National Tournament to prevent their school from being closed. Although of course, what was true then is still true: if they don’t defeat Kuromorimine they lose their school. Oarai has fought better against Kuromorimine than they did any other school (assuming the battle against Anzio went as we would expect. We don’t know…yet.). Their actions have been planned and controlled. Despite starting the battle disadvantaged in numbers and sheer firepower and armor per tank Oarai has managed to pick off Kuromorimine assets while only losing their newest team. Until the Panzer Maus appeared. The Maus has removed two more Oarai tanks, the Oarai team has no way to counter the Maus beyond hoping it breaks down (technically, this would be likely; but as it was never tested let alone used in combat its capabilities are speculative). And the main force of Kuromorimine is rapidly approaching their position. The situation looks hopeless.

But first, we’re going to address something I promised at the beginning of the series. Kuromorimine is *obviously* filling the role of Germany as far as World War 2 references are concerned. Additionally Kuromorimine Tankery doctrine, the Nishizumi style, is *obviously* “blitzkrieg”. That is, if Anzio are the Italians, Saunders are the Americans, Gloriana are the British, and Pravda are the Russians; then Kuromorimine are the Germans. Now, Japan has a history of glamorizing World War 2 Germany. Not the ideology or philosophies of government or social structure (not in the main, anyway…although this intersects with Japan’s own problems). I guess the best way to put is they idolize the idiom of World War 2 Germany. And they’re not the only country to do so, although they may have been the most explicit and pervasive over the last many decades. There is a massive controversy RIGHT NOW because a children’s Halloween costume is being sold that emulates, not strictly but more than most find comfortable, a German World War II officer’s uniform. (Not the first questionable Halloween costume sold this year, either; sigh) The point being, while tolerances in the West for such imagery were much lower (in polite company) fifteen years ago…it wasn’t so much like that in Japan.

The equalizer is that the series does use the countries of World War 2 to draw generalizations about a country’s characteristics. *Very broad* characteristics. The Americans are rich and have everything, but they can’t buy talent and they’re prone to cheating as well. They eat hamburgers and every kind of grilled meat. The Russians think they’re better than everyone else and seek, above all, that other countries acknowledge Pravda’s superiority. They eat borscht and are completely at home in the snow. The English are super polite, drink tea constantly, and while taken seriously by everyone else; apparently can’t take on Russian or Germany themselves. The French are not appearing in this film for…obvious reasons. (When we start moving past strict observance of the World War 2 battle outcomes, we will see the French; and they have their own problems. Something about two factions that hate each other…) BUT the focus is the tanks. The characterizations are narrative devices and gimmicks.

So are Oarai the Japanese? Explicitly NO; for a couple of reasons. First, as I previously pointed out ALL of these teams are Japanese. But still, if we have all these schools adopting the culture and style of World War 2 countries, surely there is room for a Japanese team representing World War 2 Japan? No. I mean, yes; but they DON’T GO *THERE*. Which is probably the smartest thing to do. There IS an explicitly Imperial Japanese-based team, which is *almost*, *practically*, a World War 2 Japanese team. They are considered a low-powered team who usually don’t make it to the National Tournament. There’s some commentary there, about the role of the Army versus the Navy in World War 2 Japan; and about the structural and societal views of Imperial Japan, which strongly contributed to leadership in Japan in World War 2 and STILL forms the (only marginally shaky) backbone of Japanese cultural thought. Maybe we’ll get to talk about that in the future.

Now: back to our exciting conclusion.

Kuromorimine’s Maus has disabled Mallard Team’s Char B1 bis and Hippo Team’s STuG III. The giant tank advances after Oarai to find that the five remaining Oarai tanks have all taken position across the T-intersection to fire at the Maus. All shots are ineffective.

Oarai withdraws one street down and fires another round of shells. Their ability to keep taking defensive positions seems too quick, but (again, speculatively) the Maus would have been INCREDIBLY slow, assuming it could move more than 10 meters without breaking down. The only break Oarai gets is sniping the Panzer 3 that baited Oarai into the Maus encounter.

Miho declares they have to figure out a way to take the Maus out of the battle if they want a chance to win, making it clear the city setting is part of the plan. They just weren’t expecting a giant ****-off tank to be there. Yukari says the Maus is unassailable from the front or the back. Sayori, looking at a tank data book, adds

Miho is startled. She pictures the Maus; the turret rotating…exposing grates IN FRONT of the turret in the top of the hull. The Maus was meant to use a MASSIVE engine. In fact, most of the hull was taken up by that huge engine and a long drive train connected to a surprisingly modest final drive at the rear. Here’s a picture from warfarehistorynetwork.com:

The grate assembly you can see directly over the engine in front of the turret was necessary…and is an obvious weak point…but only from above. In fact it has been theorized that even if the Maus ever made it to the battlefield they would have been very vulnerable to *airplane bombing*.

Miho thanks Sayori for her brilliant idea, which of course confuses Sayori. All she said was “it’s like a tank on a tank!” Miho radios Turtle Team and Duck Team, apologizing profusely for how dangerous her plan will be. Nobody cares.

The Maus rolls down an embankment to find the entire Oarai team lined up waiting a block away to the left. They aren’t firing, which should probably alert the driver of the Maus that something is up. But at the same time; Oarai doesn’t have any other tanks. They can’t call in airstrikes or anything like that. The Maus turns to the left, putting its heaviest, nigh-impregnable front armor facing Oarai. It’s least vulnerable in this position. As the Maus completes turning Oarai charges toward the Maus as a group:

The group splits right as the Maus fires, only Turtle Team in the Hetzer return to charge the Maus head-on.

Anzu depresses the Hetzer’s gun to maximum…and rams straight into the front of the Maus.

Darjeeling, Orange Peko, and Katyusha are all shocked. Shiho (Miho and Maho’s mom) observes…angrily? With disgust? I will speculate that this is, obviously, VERY unorthodox. Out of left field. Highly unusual behavior. Not how you’re supposed to conduct a tank battle. And thus, she’s pissed. The Turtle Team, coming into their own; don’t care. They drive forward, forcing the Maus onto their upper hull. A little.

Rabbit Team and Leopon Team pull to the Maus’s right side and start firing. The Maus team rotates their turret to confront the guns to their side. Just as they reach 90 degree rotation the Rabbits and Leopon disengage and drive off. And now it’s time for the Duck Team to serve:

They use their high-mounted front idler assembly made for trench crossing (remember, the Type 89 is a pre-WW2 design based on the experiences of World War 1; people at that time were still thinking slow infantry advances and trench warfare were what you used tanks for) to climb the back of the Hetzer and mount the Maus, eventually pushing against the Maus’s rotated turret.

The Ducks rotate their tank to the left so they can use their drive to push against the Maus trying to rotate back to the front. Meanwhile Ankou in the Panzer 4 climb the embankment and position themselves to the left of the Maus, barely balanced to get a shot down.

Of course, Duck Team is covering the ventilation grate over the engine, but with the Maus’s turret forced into rotation…the vents over the final drive and lots of other important parts are ALSO exposed:

Hana fires, hitting the rear grates cleanly and taking the Maus permanently out of the match. The crowd goes wild. Yukari’s parents and Hana’s mom are shown applauding from the stands. Oarai retreats to set up their confrontation with the rest of Kuromorimine, but the Hetzer is just too damaged. After backing out from under the Maus the Hetzer shuts down and we see the white flag pop up from the crumpled front of the small tank destroyer. The Student Council implores Miho to finish the battle for them.

Miho outlines the situation: Oarai has four tanks left; Kuromorimine has fourteen. But the only ones that matter are the Flag Tanks; take one out and the match is over. Miho, unsurprisingly at this point, has a plan. And you get the feeling it has been the plan all along. All four tanks are going to split up and harass Kuromorimine. The intention is to break their formation and lead Maho’s Tiger tank into a one-on-one battle with Ankou for all the marbles. Miho tells Hana to avoid firing the main gun to conserve ammo and reminds everyone of the target location for the final confrontation. She will need Leopon to complete the maneuver. The Rabbit Team volunteers to confront Kuromorimine’s back line, the Jagd-tanks and their STuG’s. A far cry from the group that ran away from their tank in their first real battle.

Oarai leads Kuromorimine through the backstreets and side streets. Kuromorimine misses the Rabbit Team pealing off at the first turn. A minute later Ankou quickly ducks down a side alley while Leopon and Duck continue straight, causing Kuromorimine to split their forces. Sayori instructs turn after turn over the radio, for all the team members. Leopon and Duck team split at an intersection causing more Kuromorimine divestment. The Rabbits then make their move. Coming up on the end of Kuromorimine’s formation, they cross in front of the last tank, an Elefant, plink it in the fixed turret, then rapidly move on. This has the desired effect of prompting the Elefant to follow them. Rabbit Commander Azusa tells her crew to execute the “Super Strategy Plan!” they learned last night. The Rabbits accelerate through four right turns, coming up behind the Elefant:

Yes…they are recreating the scene they cried over in Kelley’s Heroes. Unfortunately the two guns of the M3 Lee are incapable of penetrating even the rear armor of a Elefant. Until Saki, the one who’s always staring off somewhere and seemingly not paying attention, points at a hatch on the back of the Elefant’s turret. I mentioned previously that hatches and flat plate armor are weak points for most tanks, and it’s true here: this large rear hatch is directly opposite the rear of the Elefant’s gun. The Rabbit’s fire both of the Lee’s guns at the rear hatch and disable the Elefant.

I said we would see Elefants eventually, when the Tiger(P) was introduced. The story that Porsche had actually built nearly 80 of his version of the Tiger is likely apocryphal, but there’s some truth in it. The Tiger(P) was actually a second design after the first had been rejected. Porsche did build several of those, at least one of which made it to combat, despite this design never being adopted. The Ferdinand/Elefant tank destroyer was a third design submitted by Porsche in order to not waste the tooling and tremendous amount of money and work he had already committed to the project, and it was accepted for production. The Elefant has a similar hull structure, but the interior layout is different from the Tiger(P) and of course, it has a huge, fixed, massively-armored turret. There is reason to believe the Ferdinand/Elefant was the most effective German tank destroyer produced, despite its shortcomings (mainly the heavy weight and undependable drive line), but the numbers deserve some consideration and are open to interpretation.

While Erika fumes about the embarrassment, Maho understands what’s going on. She instructs Kuromorimine to ONLY fire at the Panzer 4; ignore all other tanks.

The Ducks, having already been instrumental in disabling the Maus, now emulate Turtle’s strategy from early in the battle. They bait the Kuromorimine tanks to ignore Ankou, using speed and maneuverability to take pot shots at the heavy German tanks. The Rabbits pursue a Jagdtiger after failing to damage it from the rear. It accelerates away from them and turns at a tight intersection. Azusa, sensing a dangerous situation, orders driver Karina to stop the tank just in time:

The Jagdtiger waiting for them at the intersection just barely misses, then begins to turn into the narrow alley toward them. The Rabbits are forced to reverse way from the 128mm gun. Realizing their M3 Lee in reverse can’t outrun the chasing Jagdtiger, Karina instead chooses a strategy to neutralizes the Jagdtiger’s gun:

At the end of the alley Rabbit Team turns to the left, but not before getting blasted by the big gun. The Rabbits are disabled, but they take the Jagdtiger with them, as the alley opening is directly across from a deep and steep drainage that the Kuromorimine team didn’t see coming.

At point HS17, Ankou turns into a building with a central courtyard. Maho follows in her Tiger, then Leopon quickly backs into the opening, blocking the way.

Maho and Miho take their positions at opposite corners of the courtyard:

The remaining Kuromorimine tanks begin shooting at the Tiger(P), which fires right back. Maho yells at Miho “There’s no running away in the Nishizumi style.” And I’m kind of shocked Miho doesn’t gesture all around her and say “Are you not paying attention?” Instead the two tanks begin circling around the perimeter of the courtyard, letting their gunners and drivers do the work.

The far end of the courtyard (you can see a building filling most of the courtyard in the previous picture) actually extends a-ways. There are two more buildings beyond the one pictured, so there are alleys and buildings to work around as well. Maho is the first to modify the situation. Miho hears a shot and identifies an HE (high explosive) shell. She immediately commands Mako to stop the tank just as Ankou turns a corner to find Maho has shot through a building to block the alley between them with rubble. As Ankou reverses, she hears Maho’s Tiger accelerate. She orders immediate full speed which slams the Panzer 4 into the Tiger, and narrowly avoids a shot by winding up just in front of the Tiger’s turret.

Kuromorimine finally disable the Ducks, who managed to keep half of Kuromorimine’s team occupied this entire time. At the same time a collection of Kuromorimine’s heavy tanks finally disable the Tiger(P)…but it’s still blocking entrance to the courtyard.

Miho and Maho wind up back in the open part of the courtyard. With the Tiger(P) disabled, Kuromorimine could force their way past Leopon and join Maho. Miho decides to take their last shot now. She instructs her crew mates on what she wants to do: basically, the same thing they tried against Darjeeling in her Churchill in the first match. But this time without the “oops”. They’re going to initiate combat. As soon as the Tiger fires Ankou will speed toward their opponent than drift past them while turning. Yukari will have to load as fast as possible to give them the time advantage. Hana can’t miss the shot. And Mako…

Well, yes. But Miho intends to end this fight now. The track snapping isn’t a problem itself, if nothing else works right they lose anyway.

Miho advances the tank, exposing the side, but Maho doesn’t bite. As they reach the corner adjacent to their starting position they turn and Miho orders the first shot. It hits the left fender of the Tiger. Maho orders a shot in return, which blasts some of the auxiliary armor added to the Panzer 4 for this match. Ankou then heads almost straight toward the Tiger, turning hard to the right as they reach their position. The right tread breaks loose, road wheels flying off. But the Panzer 4 has achieved one bonus:

Their turret hasn’t had to rotate. Hana has less work to do. They slide behind the Tiger, giving them another bonus:

Hana has the gun pointed straight at a weak point. The Tiger’s gun is not only pointed at the Panzer 4’s front armor, their turret is still moving. Ankou fires, followed immediately by the Tiger. Two close range shots…both should hit, both should disable, it just depends on which tank registers the damage first.

The smoke clears. The Tiger missed. They hit one corner of the top of the hull. Damaging it, but not fatally.

Hana didn’t miss. The entire back of the Tiger is destroyed:

Maho sees her deployed white flag, while Miho watches Maho:

Oarai wins.

Momo, once again, is in shock. When the Panzer 4 is transported back to the starting area, Miho finally releases all the adrenaline, and finds herself almost unable to stand.

The Ankou team turn to the Panzer 4 and express their gratitude. The Student Council approaches; once again Momo takes point:

Momo begins sobbing and is comforted by Yuzu. Anzu hugs Miho and thanks her for saving the school. Sodoko shows Mako as she deletes all of Mako’s late arrivals from her school record. Mako hugs Sodoko; after all the most important thing to her is being able to graduate top of her class and on time to please her grandmother.

As the celebration wraps up, Miho seeks out Maho. Finding herself unable to speak, they stand awkwardly facing each other. Finally Maho congratulates Miho. Then, for the first time in the series, she smiles. She tells Miho Oarai clearly out-performed Kuromorimine. They shake hands. Maho tells Miho she fought like only Miho could. Miho responds that she finally found “her own Tankery.” Maho agrees.

The Oarai team gather for the group photo, and hoist their championship banner:

The End!

Except for the final shot; of Shiho frowning, then sighing, then applauding with a smile on her face.

And the extensive closing credits, which occur over a victory parade back at Oarai. Each cast member is pictured individually, riding their tank in the parade. Momo is still crying. Nekoto once again has her glasses off. Two members of Leopon are actively working on the Tiger(P) as it brings up the rear. Saki, for the first time all series (even though we know better) actually appears to be paying attention. Hana’s mom yells to her daughter from the crowd, Shinzaburo sobs. Yukari’s dad salutes her and her mom waves. Mako notices her grandmother at the back of the crowd lining the street and taps her heart. Angrily grandma starts dancing a jig with her cane (which causes Mako to laugh, to be fair). Sayori waves to a group of her adoring fans, this time elderly gentlemen near the curb. The eight tanks of Oarai continue to their school ship.

And that’s the end of Girls und Panzer. Well, not the end-end. The end of the original series. The first OAV was announced I think before the series was over, if I remember correctly. And since it actually is part of the tournament progression we just watched, and was originally intended to be included in the series, it seems like a shame to leave it off.

So, NEXT time on Girls und Panzer: This is the REAL Anzio battle!!! For real. No kidding.

 

Paige Francis He/him