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Victoria responded, with an almost clinical calmness. "If I do that, we'll have two sitting ducks. That Patton has a 105. If we keep this up we'll be pinned by their artillery. We need to get forces across the river if we are ever going to silence those guns." She knew those were the last words they wanted to hear. Going over the river either meant the possibility of the heavies and mediums getting bogged down or throwing a track. They also presented a juicy target as they crested the opposite bank. And she had yet to hear of contact with the enemy's main force of T55's. She ordered her tank out of the smoke. She felt a round hit her upper glacis. It wasn't a crippling blow, but it shook up her driver.

Three of the amphibious tanks were knocked out in the assault, but the rest made it to the opposite shore. "Turtle 1, this is Crocodile 3, we have crossed the river. Moving to the treeline."

"Understood Crocodile. Get yourselves hidden and start looking for their flag tank. Avoid that Pershing." Tian said. She watched the tank destroyers crest the bank. She was waiting for the bigger, heavier tanks to get up over the bank. She, the five other T55's and the remaining light tanks were hiding hidden on the western flank, waiting for the order to open fire. She had hoped they would make a full frontal attack. As the tanks slowed down to cross the river, she called upon their artillery. "Bulldog, this is Turtle 1, Fire mission, all guns, four rounds HE, enemy tanks in the open. Grid reference Golf six, adjustment five, eight, four, two. Shoot and scoot."

"Bulldog copies Fire mission, all guns, four rounds HE, enemy tanks in the open. Grid reference Golf six, adjustment five, eight, four, two. Shoot and scoot."

Ngoc moved along the other side of the ridge before popping up her turret and firing a 105 towards the KV-1. If she could knock out the enemy heavies, the Pattons could probably move forward and engage the enemy with relative impunity. The fireflies could prove a problem, but they were the primary targets for the waiting T55's

Victoria clenched her teeth. "Get this tank moving before that Patton starts shooting at us!" She said to her driver. She knew that the Patton was going after the heavies. She did have to give a bit of respect to the drivers of the light tanks, they were tenacious defenders, but the assault would probably overwhelm them. The amphibious tanks worried her slightly. Despite their thin armor, they had guns comparable to the Easy-8's. If they could get into a good position, they could threaten the flag tank. A howitzer shell impacted three meters from their position.

"Full reverse! Get us into cover!" The artillery's plunging fire could easily turn the river into a deathtrap as tanks crawled up the slopes on the bank. As it stood, she did not want to cross the river, the Black Prince didn't have the power to make it up the banks without getting stuck or shot in the vulnerable lower glacis. "Ratel to Rhino. I'm going after the amphibs." She radioed to her commander. She began making a crawl towards the west, providing support to the light tanks.

The Ratel followed the light tanks, attempting to outflank the fleeing amphibious tanks. Unfortunately, it was not easy, the lighter tanks were going to leave her behind in the dust. "Head towards the flag tank, we'll try and cut them off." Victoria ordered. The heavy tank ripped the top of the soil as it dug into the softer ground. The black prince started its glacial crawl towards the flag tank. Fortunately the gun had enough range to cover the open fields. Victoria knew, however that the amphibs were aware of how powerful her gun was and were not going to expose themselves if they could help it.

"Damn, they sure like wasting ammo." Ngoc thought to herself as the rounds impacted the hill and flew over her head. Suppression fire was the only reason she could see for using so many. She popped her turret up after hearing the french heavy tank fire. She took aim at it and sent a round its way. The light tanks popped up as well, firing their shots before retreating again behind the crest of the hill. Ngoc looked through her periscope and saw two shells impact the riverbed, sending up pillars of water and debris. "Bulldog, adjust fire, drop one hundred meters." She directed the guns towards one of the low points where she had seen an enemy Hetzer.

The amphibious tanks weaved and moved quickly through the trees before spreading out to cover more ground. One of them took shelter near an abandoned factory building. Unknowingly running into their IS-2. The other four took to the trees and hills, two of them set up in a hull down position to slow the enemy light tanks while two others began searching the hills. One of them spotted movement, soon the outline of a camo net became clear. This enemy had good taste. That particular brand was one the Vietnamese team had used before. "Turtle 1, this is Crocodile 2-4 enemy tank spotted grid reference Juliet 10. Heavily camouflaged. Possible flag tank"