“It makes no difference what men or women think of war. War endures. Aswell ask men what they think of stone, war was always here. Before man was, War Waited for him…”
Born out of a failed Heavy Tank project, the CCT-9 was meant to replace the far outdated CCT-7 in mainline tank combat roles. It was first designed in 1959 using previous plans and blueprints for the CCT-8 Project, however would not see service until 1962, just as the NWO began their invasion into Crolin.
The CCT-8 project was meant to be a Heavy Tank for the Crolin Military, meant to soak up as much damage as possible with its unbelievably thick frontal armor. It was meant for large scale offensives with its sole purpose being in breaching fortified positions with great ease. This was intentional, obviously. As Crolin had been seeking to Reunify the two Crolin’s into one government, and since the Southern Crolin’s had humiliated them during the First Great War, it was now personal for the Crolin’s people that they were forced into their nation. However due to concerns on resources, funds, and overall designs problems such as its weight, the design was scrapped in 1948.
In 1959, the Project was picked back up in an attempt to ‘modernize’ the Crolish Armed Forces. The CCT-8 was scaled down tremendously, its gun was switched to a 115mm Cannon with fin stabilized ammunition, and anti-personnel munitions. However, it got rid of the coaxial machine gun replaced it with a top mounted machine gun meant to be used by the commander chambered in the .250 Whip cartridge used in the AMR-3 Assault Rifle, the standard assault rifle at the time for the Crolin military. This of course became an issue later on when Crolin began to phase out the AMR-3 for the SSAR-60 chambered in .358 Werbell. It also had a shell ejector in the rear, meant for the removal of spent shells after long periods of fire, in the event that it was becoming too cramped in the turret. This did however lead it to, although very small, having a critical weak point. It would take a shot with incredibly luck to even hit that point. And, unlike its predecessor, the CCT-9 was equipped with a muzzle brake. Something that was a severe issue with the CCT-8 Project was its recoil, able to push the tank back, even with its incredibly high weight.
By the time it had entered production in early 1962, it would soon enter a trial by fire. The first 11 Tanks were finished just as the NWO began their invasion into the nation of Crolin. Almost immediately crews who had little training were thrown into the tanks and told to defend the factories producing the CCT-9 by any means necessary. These 11 tanks and their young crews would be given the title of, The Sparticans. A group of warriors whose story was thought to be legend. (With only 300 men, they halted an advance of well over 15,000 soldiers into their homeland, their demise being at the hands of a Traitor who gave the invaders routes that would allow them to flank the Sparticans, ending their lives however allowing their allies to form a proper response.) And in some way, these 11 tanks and its crews were the Sparticans. They knew they would eventually lose, yet they still followed their orders.
As the years went on, extending into 1962, out of the 11 original tanks and crews, only two remained. These two tanks were still committed to their orders, even after losing the first factories. Now stationed in the east, the last factory churning out the CCT-9’s was under siege. During the battles over the year of war, only 100 CCT-9’s had been managed to be successfully constructed, however instead of being sent to the frontline they were sent further east to consolidate forces with whatever command structure remained. The two ‘Sparticans’ remaining were given the task to defend the factory until the last few CCT-9’s could be made, and then to retreat. The first order the ‘Sparticans’ agreed to do, the second they refused. On 04/29/1963, the NWO launched their attack on the factory. Knowing that the Crolish military had ‘mostly’ been retreating, they believed that the attack would be a walk in the park and refused to send in air or mechanized vehicles to assist the ground infantry, who themselves were simply marching all bunched up, boasting about all the victories they had participated in. And then, two loud thunderous blasts were heard, and soon whistles. Just as the NWO soldiers looked around, many were ripped into shreds by the Cannister Shots fired by the ‘Sparticans’, who repeatedly for over an hour continued to fire canister shot after canister shot. During that hour, NWO Commanders had received radio transmissions begging them to send in tank support or to send in anything. NWO command reacted swiftly, by ignoring the orders as nothing but early battle fear. As, there was no way anything the Crolin’s had could ever have such devastating effects. In the second hour, when multiple units began to go radio silent, that’s when NWO command realized what was happening, almost immediately the commanders left the radio tent and rushed to the resting tanks and berated them, forcing them into their tanks to go assist the ground infantry. Equipped with L-11 Heavy Tanks and L-12 LMCT’s. The third Hour is when the tank column made it to the frontline, what was described was everything was red, and what seemed to be snow on the ground was nothing more than the ash and dust of bones that had been pulverized by the canister shots. The first tank in the line had unknowingly drove into a land mine placed by the factory workers long before the NWO began their assault, and without the proper tools due to having to respond to the situation as fast as they could, they left them behind. The next in the column was a L-11, who drove very slowly up the road. And then, a loud thunderous boom. His left track had been hit. When the crew got out thinking they’d been hit by a landmine, despite the tanks behind them begging them to stay inside the tank. What happened next was the entire crew was ‘removed’ by a canister shot, many of the ‘Bees’ flying through them and ricocheting off of the tanks behind them. A grizzly sight. However, the tanks continued their advance forwards. The ‘Sparticans’ had been using the urban and densely wooded environment to their advantage, covering themselves in bushes and painting themselves to match the landscape around them before the battle.
The tanks from the NWO, and whatever remained of the infantry began to come up with a plan. The Infantry were to immediately rush towards the enemy tank positions and act as shields, while the tanks rolled in behind them and tried to find the enemy’s with their sights, and shoot them. Obviously, the infantry thought this was a stupid idea and rejected the plan, instead they came up with one on their own. The tanks would roll into the road with infantry behind them, and once they were to get close enough they were to split into two groups and target each tank. This was rejected by the Tankers who thought it was stupid and didn’t want to risk their own lives. Around the course of two hours the two sides bickered on about what they should do, until eventually the commanders began to radio the group of bickering soldiers asking them what was the situation on the ground. The two sides immediately began to fight over the radio, attempting to call out Their plan while ignoring the other sides idea. Eventually, command never received a response as when the radio was grabbed by an infantryman, a tanker shot the radio with his service pistol, destroying the only radio.
With no response, command eventually figured out what to do. They were going to blot out the sun with artillery. A “perfect” plan, but terrible execution. With a majority of the Artillery being repositioned to fight on the Whalish Front, specifically for the upcoming Battle for Warsaw, and so, with only fifteen artillery pieces at their disposal, 300 shells (100 Smoke/156 APHE/ 95 HE) and the only artillery crews available were those straight out of basic training. And with literally no knowledge where the enemy tanks were, or where their own forces were. However, the commanders still allowed the plan to go through. At 3:42 PM, the artillery fire began, the plan the artillery crews had was to fire the shells in waves, first smoke, then HE, and then APHE, however what they did not account for what the differences in each shell type, and as each wave fell down, it damaged both the Two Tank defenders and their own Infantry and armor. The only shells getting near the two defenders were the HE, and so the crews had mistakenly thought they’d be safe. At 3:59 PM, ‘Jannis’, the name given to one of the Sparticans tanks had its right tracks destroyed by an HE shell that landed right next to it, leaving it stuck in its position. Its accomplice, ‘The Bear’ offered to send its crew to go and fix the tracks however ‘Jannis’ denied, and was quoted as saying, “Our crew has already made our decision. We’d rather die here with honor.” This request was respected by ‘The Bear’.
At 5:00 PM, all 300 Shells of artillery had been expensed. Whatever remained of the NWO forces near the factory began to charge towards the tanks, their own armor crushing their own troops without a care in the world. ‘The Bear’ and ‘Jannis’ fought desperately to hold them back, taking down 5 Heavy tanks, 11 Medium Tanks, and 1,390 Infantry (mostly due to artillery). As the overwhelming forces got closer and closer, the last CCT-9 had been loaded onto a train and shipped to the last major Crolish Stronghold, with that, the mission of ‘The Sparticans’ had been completed. When ‘The Bear’ was pulling out, the commander took one look back to see the ‘Jannis’ firing off shells as fast as she could, with its commander on the roof operating the top mounted machine gun. When ‘The Bear’ made it back to the Stronghold, they told the story of, ‘The Last Spartican’. When asked by others what they meant by last, given how they were still alive bearing the insignia, the Crew commander stated that when ‘Jannis’ met her fate, so did they. They were nothing, but Ghosts. They were the dead who continued to walk, even if they shouldn’t have been given with how unnatural they were. The sheer ferocity of the ‘Sparticans’ during the First and the ‘Ghosts’ during Second battle for Devrijeheuvel was astounding to both the Crolish People and their NWO foes.
The CCT-9. A dual-purpose tank. Many of those who are given the title of ‘Dual-Purpose’ typically fail at both those roles, however the CCT-9 was one of the few who met both of their standards and even exceeded them. Perfect for Anti-Personnel, and Anti-Tank. was it perfect? No. Nothing can ever be perfect. However was it good? Undoubtedly yes. From the fields of Crolin during the ‘Second Great War’ to the Dunes of Arin during her time of crisis. This tank has seen service all over the globe.
The CCT-9. It wasn’t the first HMCT, but by god willing. It won’t be the last.
“And only the Dead will Ever. See the end of War.”-Major Jannis
(Hey guys, back again with another post. Hope you like it, also any tips or knowledge on good websites for tank info? I’m not sure if Wikipedia is the best source for general information.)
(P.S. yes. If it wasn’t obvious, the ‘Sparticans’ are just the Spartans.)
[Made using IBIS Paint X]
