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Girls und Panzer: Saga of Pravda (Alt Name: Girls und Panzer: Pravda Senki) (ガールズ＆パンツァー プラウダ戦記) is a prequel story to the main Girls und Panzer series. It covers Katyusha and Nonna in their first years at Pravda and their rise to the top.
Story Overview[]
The story follows Nonna and Katyusha along their journey through Pravda up to the 62nd National High School Sensha-dō Tournament.
Katyusha and Nonna are first years at Pravda Girls High School, they don't know each other yet but are both already highly experienced and smart students with Katyusha being Pravda's top first year student when many thought it would be Nonna.
Chapter 1[]
Katyusha at the start is seen as underestimated and prone for bullies. Nonna seems to be the opposite of that.
Katyusha and Nonna first meet properly after Katyusha tried to set up another ambush for her bullies after getting them battered and bruised. Nonna takes care of Katyushas injuries, as they both begin to appreciate each other and become friends.
They next meet when they are the pitted in a practice match between the first and Pravda's more experience Sensha-dō Team, organizing a sneaky plan to catch the A Team off guard and kill the flag tank. Katyusha and Nonna's defensive and attacking capabilities are shown as incredibly skilled for first years.
Chapter 2[]
Pravda's School Commander, Ekatarina, and subordinates are heavily embarrassed and attempt to ask Katyusha if it was a fluke, which Katyusha uses to her advantage to alleviate fears from the 3rd years and to consolidate power amongst the 1st years.
Chapter 3[]
Katyusha overtime, shows her skill as a commander, guiding the first years through the first few months of training and getting placed as a reserve for the 1st Team. She is also shown to treat the first years with privileges that only 2nd and 3rd years get. This allows her to have a basis for support to overthrow the leaders of Pravda.
Pravda in the 61st High School Sensha-dō Tournament are shown to be powerful, not loosing a single tank under Ekaterina's command. Some Pravda students encounter Kuromorimine Degenerates, making Katyusha believe they are a weak link in Kuromorimine.
Chapter 4[]
Pravda faces St. Gloriana Girls' College in the Semi-Finals, under the command of Earl-Grey with Darjeeling and Assam in their first years, as subordinates. Katyusha realizes that the current attacks are just distractions and attempts to contact her superiors, who shut her down. Katyusha takes the initiative to attempt to block a shot from a Churchill (Commanded By Darjeeling) and is taken out. The Churchill fires another shot and destroys Prvada's Flag Tank, eliminating them from the Semi-Finals. Katyusha is rewarded by St. Gloriana's with a Tea Set given to worthy opponents as a result of she figuring out their strategy. Katyusha notices her team not being upset at all and is sickened by it, sick of the loser attitude of the students.
Chapter 5[]
Back at Pravda, Nonna and Katyusha have an argument, with Katyusha running off and Nonna attempting to catch up to hug and talk to her. They talk about the reasons they worked so hard to get to the point they are at with Katyusha saying her height has led to others thinking of her as a child and wants to work to stop people looking down on her; while Nonna explains that people think she can do anything because she looks more grown up and expect lots based on her appearance while becoming disappointed from her failures, putting it down to "slacking off". This made her work harder so her inner self could catch up to how she looks to not disappoint anyone again. They then call each other a word that they believe is above friendship, Comrade.
Chapter 6[]
Following their talk, Nonna and Katyusha move in with each other, which made Nonna realize Katyusha's dedication as she stays up all night studying military history, causing sleep deprivation.
To allow for Katyusha's Plans to be fulfilled, Nonna and Katyusha set up the NKVD, the Nonna Led Katyusha Victory Development Committee which aims to collect intelligence such as Kuromorimine's Degenerate problem and a new threat to their championship dreams, Nishizumi Maho.
Katyusha's leadership is begins to improve the student's grades massively, gaining many supporters in the process. While leading a training hike, Katyusha begins to fall behind the others, leading Nonna to give her a piggyback ride to help her conserve her energy. This then leads to the start of the daytime naps for Katyusha to help combat her overnight studies. This begins Nonna's transformation into Katyusha's guardian.
Chapter 7[]
Nonna calls friends from the Russian Military to train the 1st years. The students undertake a brutal training regime that pushes the team to their limits while Katyusha is drilled into becoming a better tactician.
A delivery order for tanks arrives at the school, with their delivery being overseen by a mysterious girl in a white coat, white hair and sunglasses who knows the military Instructors, who proclaims that Pravda is just "a pseudo army, fighting a pseudo war" and leaves as she wishes for something genuine.
Chapter 8[]
Under the Russian's command, the students continue their grueling training; with Katyusha guiding the tank teams to better hone their skills. Ekaterina and Olga discuss the girl's new instructors and appear worried about the new leader of Pravda's team, Natalia, as her leadership focuses more on relaxation and fun than under their's or Katyusha's leadership.
At Kuromorimine, the final training of the 3rd year's team ends. The graduates discuss their nine year victory streak, and that their successors will have a lot of pressure put on them, and with Maho Nishizumi joining, their hard work is sure to be forgotten as there is no doubt that she'll win their 10th victory. Himoru reveals to Onizuka that their pick for their chosen student to become the next commander, Kirishima, has quit Sensha-dō with Onizuka believing the PTA are to blame. They discuss that with this decision Maho will most likely become the next commander and that she will be walking into a minefield.
Chapter 9[]
With their training complete the Russians prepare to leave. However, Katyusha and Nonna are unable to see them off as the suddenly were given an enormous amount of paperwork.
The entire Sensha-dō team is called to the training grounds, and Natalia exclaims her new policy of having fun and not worrying about losing. In order to show the 3rd year's seniority and to show off to the 1st years, Natalia organizes an exhibition match against the 2nd years students and makes Nonna and Katyusha unavalaible by inundating them with paperwork.
The match begins and the 3rd year's flag tank is immediately taken out, causing Natalia to call a rematch. The rematch lasts longer, with Natalia's command tank outlasting her entire team as she displays her skills as a commander however, it eventually comes to an end and the 2nd years win.
Katyusha and Nonna arrive at the training grounds after finishing their work and find that Natalia has locked herself in her tank. Natalia hears them and becomes even more defeated when their days’ worth of paperwork was finished in just a few hours. The two find out about the 2nd year's victory, and Nonna scolds her for her cowardice, Katyusha dismisses Nonna and attempts to deal with Natalia herself. Natalia reveals the struggles she and her team went through to try and be the best, with many of them leaving or coming to hate senshado altogether. But despite everything, they couldn't defeat Kuromorimine. So instead of trying to beat them, Natalia wanted to focus more on having fun than forcing them to win. The 2nd years tell Natalia that despite the intense training, they are having fun. Natalia leaves her tank, and Katyusha tells her that she was right in a way and devises a plan for them to both get their way.
Natalia hands over command to Katyusha, and in turn, Katyusha places her at the head of a department designed to give lectures on the basics to primary and middle school students (a young Nina among them). She accepts and her teaching's popularity results in a vast influx of Sensha-dō applicants in Pravda's home region.
Chapter 10[]
A heavily camouflaged Katyusha and Nonna conceal themselves in the woods next to Kuromorimine’s practice area, having infiltrated to conduct reconnaissance on their Sensha-dō team.
Meanwhile, Erika and the other first-years rehearse their movements in imaginary tanks, since first-year students at Kuromorimine suffer from a shortage of operational tanks they can use to train. (The shortage is rumored to be due to Kuromorimine diverting funds into the purchase of a new Maus.) Embarrassed at the inherent silliness of training in “air tanks,” Erika and her crew attempt to repair their damaged Tiger I, but find themselves stymied by the complexity of removing a large number of interwoven road wheels to reach the innermost wheels.
As Erika laments the difficulty of maintaining the tanks and curses German engineering, she is called away by a fellow student (the future Maus commander) for an interview with a journalist from Senshado Monthly about Maho Nishizumi. In the interview, Erika presents Maho as being almost superhuman, referring to her as a “genuine monster.”
Chapter 11[]
After the journalist asks her to elaborate on Maho Nishizumi being a “genuine monster,” Erika recounts a practice match in which Maho’s tank faced off against ten Kuromorimine tanks operated by first-years. Despite the overwhelming numerical disparity, Maho seemed very relaxed about it, which annoyed the first-years. When the match began, the first-years quickly trapped Maho in a kill zone, but she managed to evade all shots aimed at her tank through skillful maneuvering and eliminated all ten opponents within two minutes. Erika speculates that a key part of Maho’s skill is a keen ability to judge what is going on with every tank in sight at any given time and act accordingly.
Katyusha, still concealing herself near the Kuromorimine practice area, observes and films the outcome of a similar match to what Erika just described, but is petrified by Maho’s penetrating stare when it falls on her position. Having seen what Maho is capable of, Katyusha has a very good reason to be afraid.
Nonna, who was disguised as a journalist all along and deceived Erika into divulging information under the pretense of an interview, finds a panicked Katyusha in the forest and scoops her up for exfiltration.
Chapter 12[]
Miho is frustrated by how much pressure she is still receiving from her mother and complains to Maho about this. Maho attributes this to Shiho wanting to balance out Miho’s nature, which is at odds with what is expected of a Nishizumi.
The two sisters face off in a practice duel in one of the outer drainage channels on the Graf Zeppelin, an enormous area dotted by massive pillars. At one point Maho manages to damage the gun on Miho’s tank by driving her tank off a ramp and striking the barrel as she lands, but it ends in a draw as both tanks knock each other out simultaneously some time afterwards.
Following this, Maho and Miho talk about the current state of Kuromorimine as it pertains to them. The team’s skill level is below normal ever since Maho became the commander, which limits the strategies they can use to the classic Nishizumi style. Maho, devoted to the Nishizumi style as a way of life, is concerned about her ability to lead Kuromorimine effectively, but Miho, seeing how much Maho opens up in the context of senshado, vows to support her in securing Kuromorimine’s tenth victory.
Koume Akaboshi and her friends discuss the school’s current state of affairs over lunch. The already poorly-managed team lacks a vice commander due to the departure of so many students, and they are unsure if Miho would be a good fit. At this point Miho shows up alone, searching for a place to sit, and the girls are promptly evicted from their seats by three of Kuromorimine’s rich delinquents, who have taken it upon themselves to act as Miho’s unofficial bodyguards to curry favor. Alone once again and separated from her peers by this unwanted action, Miho reflects on the situation once again, determined to help Kuromorimine win the tournament for Maho’s sake even if it means sacrificing her own interests.
Chapter 13[]
A week after infiltrating Kuromorimine, Katyusha is having difficulty sleeping. Every night, Maho Nishizumi’s stare haunts her dreams, and she inevitably wakes up screaming.
Nonna, watching Katyusha’s footage of Maho singlehandedly taking down superior numbers, is unnerved by the prospect of going up against Maho, but is more concerned that Katyusha will reach her breaking point if she can’t sleep properly. In a motherly effort to help with this, Nonna unbuttons her top and nestles Katyusha’s head in her chest, though Katyusha’s tendency to suck her thumb in her sleep translates to her sucking on Nonna’s chest. Despite this minor issue, Katyusha sleeps much better that night.
In training the next day, a very tired Nonna (who did not sleep nearly as well) chews the team out for their bizarrely poor coordination and demands to know why they were distracted, but is called away by Katyusha before she can get an answer. A very worried Katyusha inquires about rumors of Nonna having an illicit sexual relationship with a boyfriend in the Russian mafia, telling her that the rumor originated from hickies spotted on Nonna’s chest (when in fact they were the result of Katyusha’s habitual sucking action in her sleep). Recovering quickly from the realization and wanting to spare Katyusha the embarrassment of knowing exactly what happened, Nonna manages to convince her that the hickies are just heavily scratched bug bites, much to the relief of both. This matter is quickly overshadowed by the need to select regular team members for the approaching tournament.
As Katyusha encourages the team to stay strong heading into the tournament, Nonna punishes the girl who started the rumor by suspending her from a tree in front of everyone else, a public reminder of the responsibility and trust that Pravda’s Sensha-dō team needs.
Chapter 14[]
To select the final tank crew for Pravda's roster of tournament regulars, Katyusha has organized a battle royale. Whichever tank is the last survivor of the battle, that tank’s crew will be competing in all rounds of the tournament. In the chaos of the battle, many of the participating tanks are concentrating their fire on a single BT-5, crewed by none other than the trio who tried to bully Katyusha early in her first year at their own peril. The BT-5’s tracks are destroyed and it rolls over a ledge, apparently out of the match. The remaining three tanks all take each other out simultaneously, but just as the battle is about to be called as a three-way draw, the BT-5 reappears, undamaged except for the tracks, moving on its road wheels as a function of its Christie suspension. Thus the final spot in the regular tournament team goes to an unlikely crew, three girls who once antagonized Katyusha but are now fighting their hardest to make it—exactly what Pravda’s team needs even if their skills are not necessarily the greatest.
Meanwhile at Kuromorimine, training is underway for the tournament, and Miho is disturbed by how rigid the training regimen is for maneuvering in formation, to a degree that will not be very useful in combat. The Patron-Tankarts Association (PTA), excessively focused on Kuromorimine’s tenth tournament victory being a Nishizumi victory, has manipulated almost every aspect of the team Maho will be leading including the training guidelines, much to her chagrin. She confides in Miho that she wishes she had gotten to serve under Kirishima’s respected leadership instead of being accelerated to her command post without the respect of her team, but she vows to make the most of it.
Kanon Sasagawa and Remi Takashima, two judges for the Sensha-dō Federation, are in the vice chairman’s office protesting the shifting of resources away from high school Sensha-dō in favor of the university and adult leagues, which makes it more difficult to monitor match grounds effectively for safety and judging accuracy. A proposal to introduce camera drones in place of human spotters doesn’t help much with the incongruity of simultaneously increasing sponsorships and budget cuts, and the two judges pressure the vice chairman to investigate where all the incoming money is going.
At St. Gloriana, Darjeeling tells Assam about the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining,” optimistically applying it to St. Gloriana’s chances in the tournament, but Assam ominously reminds her that Earl Grey has asked to see her—and sessions with Earl Grey are never a very pleasant experience.
Chapter 15[]
Earl Grey’s latest and final miserable session for Darjeeling is a test in hand-to-hand combat, and she has gone all-out in recreating the atmosphere of The Karate Kid. Although Darjeeling is greatly annoyed by this, she has gotten used to it, and the session begins, with Earl Grey’s objective being to lift Darjeeling’s skirt like always. Despite a display of impeccable reflexes, coordination, and fighting prowess, Darjeeling is unable to prevent herself from being maneuvered over a few panels in the floor that open up, and carefully placed fans under those panels blow her skirt up. Furious, Darjeeling destroys the fans, but this depletes her strength, and Earl Grey triumphantly lifts her skirt a second time, driving home Sun Tzu’s words in The Art of War: “All warfare is based on deception.”
The Pravda Sensha-dō team rigorously practices their plan to deal with the highly refined skills of the Kuromorimine tankers, and in particular Maho Nishizumi’s ability to maneuver out of harm’s way—they will pour volleys of shells into the space around their targets, and even without having anything close to Maho’s level of skill, they will be able to use sheer brute force to defeat her. The girls are in high spirits as the tournament draws closer, and Natalia finally hands over the Soviet tank helmet that symbolizes the loyalty of a team and absolute power to Katyusha.
Chapter 16[]
The day of Pravda’s first match in the 62nd tournament against Bonple has arrived, drawing crowds that Kanon Sasagawa and Remi Takashima struggle to manage at the entrance due to the reductions in personnel.
Katyusha is worried that she may not have done enough and is second-guessing all of her methods, but Nonna manages to reassure her of her own preparedness just in time for Earl Grey to show up, playing the bagpipes with a sword at her hip and a bow slung across her back, in an unnerving display of eccentricity. With Nonna’s guidance, Katyusha does her best to counter such psychological tactics by acting intimidating from Nonna’s shoulders, but Earl Grey proves next to impossible to rattle. The dynamic changes when Earl Grey subtly reaches for her sword only to be met by Nonna kicking it out of her hand and stopping inches from her face, much to Katyusha’s shock. While Nonna once again reassures Katyusha of her own loyalty, Earl Grey departs, rattled indeed by Nonna’s response to what was meant as a joke but very skilled at hiding her state of mind.
In the match, Bonple’s force under Jajka is hopelessly outmatched by the tanks under Katyusha. They lack the firepower and the armor to do anything but retreat before the advancing Pravda team, and they are split in two. Half of their tanks are encircled and summarily eliminated.
Maho, watching the match, reflects on the nature of inherent unfairness in Sensha-dō and the importance of flexibility, treating it as a martial art rather than a sport, but is called away before she can finish articulating her thoughts in front of some of the Kuromorimine team members. Erika, thinking she understands what Maho was saying and thinking it triggered an epiphany for her, immediately begins to discuss Maho’s philosophy at length, but her words ring hollow with her comrades, who know her too well to see it as anything but a flash in the pan.
Bonple’s remaining tanks have been cornered in an empty factory, and though Pravda clearly has the upper hand in the match, they have taken heavy losses in the process of gaining it. As Nonna assesses the situation, an exhausted Katyusha collapses in her arms—right at a critical moment in the battle, a stalemate.
Chapter 17[]
With Katyusha out cold from a lack of sleep the night before, Nonna takes control. She considers several strategies to decisively defeat Bonple, and after considering a variety of options including blocking potential escape routes and shelling the factory, she arrives at one she likes.
Inside the factory, Jajka is determined to rally what remains of her team and counterattack, but morale is low, the girls are not prepared for the weather, and their tanks have been heavily damaged to the point of needing significant repairs before they can continue on. As Jajka grows increasingly frustrated with the her team’s lack of spirit, Nonna shows up at the entrance and offers an opportunity for them to surrender with their dignity intact, purportedly from an impressed Katyusha. She also offers them the alternative as a “personal request”—a brutal, drawn-out, humiliating defeat. Jajka stubbornly wants to fight to the end, but is forced to capitulate when Uszka informs her that their flag tank’s white flag system has been damaged—and sustained fire from the Pravda tanks could lead to injuries without a white flag to signal the end, a far more important consideration than winning or losing. Bonple’s team subsequently surrenders, giving Pravda the victory.
Katyusha wakes up to the news of Bonple’s surrender, and the entire team is elated by the win. Meanwhile, Nonna unwinds from the stress of bluffing to force the outcome of the match.
The Kuromorimine team arrives for their first-round match against Blue Division High School, and some of the team's former members, watching from the stands, are unimpressed by the formations and inflexibility on display for all to see with their new methodology--especially against flexible and tough opponents such as the one they now face.
Chapter 18[]
In Kuromorimine’s first battle of the tournament, the Blue Division team is able to expertly bait many of their heavy tanks into getting bogged down in muddy terrain. With her team in disarray, Maho ends up carrying the match, singlehandedly turning the tide on a Blue Division assault for the victory.
In Chi-Ha-Tan's match against St. Gloriana, Earl Grey uses her Cromwell to bait her opponents into an encirclement. Although their charge to break out fails thanks to the Churchill blocking their path and they ultimately lose, their team is noticeably more coordinated than Kuromorimine’s.
Kanon Sasagawa is still worried about the lack of resources to properly manage the matches, expressing to a colleague her frustration at the tendency to work harder instead of being efficient and effective. She sees that every match could be the one when everything falls apart and an accident happens while the Senshado Federation is unable to do anything about it—a serious problem as the tournament moves into the semifinals.
Chapter 19[]
Before St. Gloriana's match against Pravda, Earl Grey is uncertain about her team's ability to win, even having doubts about her capacity as a commander. She notes that Pravda's skill has greatly improved since last year. Upon Darjeeling and Assam's arrival, Earl Grey recomposes herself, and the match begins.
St. Gloriana plans on using ambush tactics to defeat Pravda. By using decoy posters and traps, Earl Grey and her team turn a abandoned city into a fortress. Pravda's bully trio enter in the town in their BT-5, which the St. Gloriana team assumes to be a recon mission. The trio keeps their opponents occupied, narrowly escaping traps thanks to their light tank. St. Gloriana is not discouraged and remains confident in their plan.
However, the scouting mission was just a diversion to allow Pravda's main forces to take up formation near the ruins. Once in position, the Pravda team begins to fire HE shells with the intent to destroy the city. At first, St. Gloriana plans to wait out the attack until Pravda runs out of HE ammunition. Earl Grey quickly comes to the realization that Pravda brought nothing except HE shells, as this was Katyusha's plan all along. Despite the midsummer weather, a terrified Earl Gray feels as though she is freezing under Katyusha's "snowstorm." Earl Grey orders a retreat for her remaining units, but is shot by Nonna before she gets the chance. Because her tank was St. Gloriana's flag tank, Pravda won the match.
The match was being watched by Russian soldier Albina and her friend Harisha. Albina begins to comment on Nonna's marksmanship – attributing her accuracy to the training Albina gave – but she is interrupted by Klara's entrance. Klara's interest is piqued after Albina explains the nature of the senshado match; she immediately decides to forgo the afternoon's training and is seen boarding a jet.
Chapter 20[]
After defeating St. Gloriana, Katyusha continues to train her team for their upcoming battle with Kuromorimine, emphasizing that they cannot treat their opponents as humans because they can expect no leniency in return.
Nonna gets a report of an unknown aircraft making a forced landing on the Pravda school ship, and though she considers it unlikely that this is a Kuromorimine spy, she has the team stay on alert just in case. This concern does not last long, however, as she is soon accosted by Klara, who has surreptitiously flown in from Russia using a MiG-25 fighter jet. Klara quickly identifies her as the gunner who fired the kill shot in Pravda’s match with St. Gloriana, and Nonna is uneasy at the aura Klara gives off.
Klara, eager to test what kind of person Nonna is, engages her in a high-intensity sparring session of martial arts, in which Nonna holds her own but feels herself outclassed. She is also unnerved by Klara beginning to talk about how she’s felt like she’s missing something, also probing at how Nonna’s loyalty to Katyusha gives her a sense of fulfillment—which prompts her to continue the fight, only to find that Klara is still a highly formidable opponent who is willing to be far more aggressive. She summons her courage in a bid to match this and prepares to continue yet again.
At this point, Katyusha shows up, yelling at Nonna to stop the fighting. Upon seeing her, Klara is overwhelmed and rushes at her, to Nonna’s alarm, but instead of attacking her, she kneels before a very confused Katyusha in awe. She then places Katyusha’s foot on her face, a symbolic gesture of humbling herself, which confuses Katyusha even more, and then Nonna does the same with Katyusha’s other foot, sending her over backwards. Klara then praises how Nonna’s devotion has helped Katyusha develop into the person she is and introduces herself. Nonna is grateful for Klara helping her realize her own importance, in part because of a massive endorphin rush from her stressful encounter with Klara, and the two of them agree to work together to protect Katyusha—who is even more confused at this point and yells at them for speaking Russian.
Three days later, Nonna has had time to clear her head and has to deal with Klara’s obsession with Katyusha. Katyusha, meanwhile, notices Nonna’s abnormally kind behavior towards her as they are about to enter a meeting.
Chapter 21[]
The final match between Kuromorimine and Pravda begins, and just twelve minutes in, a landslide triggered by heavy rain sweeps away several tanks and separates Maho Nishizumi from her team. In spite of grave safety concerns, the match is ordered to continue.
With her strategy in tatters thanks to the landslide and no idea where Maho is, Katyusha orders her crews to lay down heavy fire on the disorganized Kuromorimine team. Miho Nishizumi attempts to take the lead amid the chaos, but to no avail. Pravda inflicts several losses.
Tominaga, the ill-behaved delinquent daughter of the chairwoman of Kuromorimine’s “Patron-Tankarts Association” or PTA for short, commands a Panzer III along with a few of her other problematic friends, with Erika Itsumi serving as her driver. In spite of Erika’s objections to abandoning the fight, Tominaga loses heart and orders her to flee. Seeing this, the remainder of Kuromorimine’s team breaks into a rout, though Katyusha restrains her team from chasing them to avoid getting stuck in the loose ground left by the landslide.
The crew of Pravda’s BT-5, made up of Katyusha’s former bullies, has constructed a rudimentary log roadway across the debris field. As the team crosses it, however, Maho attacks, quickly knocking out several tanks while they cannot easily move. In response, the Pravda team moves to shield Katyusha’s tank, which is also the flag tank, impressing Maho with their loyalty to their commander.
The BT-5 crew escapes the fray, and in a bid to assert themselves, they take some of the spare shells they were tasked with carrying for the other tanks and bury them, making improvised landmines. Katyusha drives past with what remains of the Pravda team to regroup, leaving the BT-5 to face down Maho alone as she follows in hot pursuit.
Chapter 22[]
Móre, the commander of the BT-5, reflects on the fundamental differences between Pravda students like herself and the likes of Maho. Exploiting a loophole in the rules, which do not explicitly forbid the use of landmines against a team’s own tanks, she attempts to use the improvised mines to launch her tank into the air in the hopes of penetrating the Tiger I’s thin upper armor with a shot from above. Unfortunately, a quick maneuver by Maho makes the shot miss, and the BT-5 is disabled by the blast without inflicting any damage.
The rest of the Kuromorimine team, led by Miho Nishizumi, has regrouped but has been unable to reestablish contact with Maho, leaving them without a sense of what to do. Miho, feeling inadequate after her inability to handle the team during the rout and determined to prove herself as a leader, orders the team to take a circuitous route along the river so they can launch a strike against Pravda’s rear.
They soon encounter a section of the path that has been washed out in the rainy conditions. Miho personally steers her Tiger I around the gap, planning to rendezvous with Maho alone while the team digs in to await an assault by Pravda, but at the insistence of her teammates, she allows a pair of Panzer IIIs to escort her, one in front crewed by Koume Akaboshi and her friends, and one behind by Tominaga’s friends and Erika.
All of the judges have been called to the site of the landmine ploy, and as a result none of them are monitoring the status of the match in the already poor conditions. In an emergency attempt to locate the Kuromorimine team, a prototype surveillance drone is deployed, the first of its kind used by the Senshado Federation.
While en route to the rendezvous point in the dangerous driving conditions, Tominaga angrily reflects on how she got to where she is now. Because of her mother’s position, she was forced to take up senshado at Kuromorimine in spite of her poor grades even though she wanted to go to music school to study the flute; as such, she holds no love for the sport, going through the motions at the will of her domineering parents.
In the meantime, Nonna and Katyusha, figuring out the pincer attack after noting the defensive position and the absence of the Nishizumi sisters, decide to head along the river to spring their own ambush. They are shocked to encounter Kuromorimine’s flag tank and its escorts heading the other way on the same road, a situation which neither side has foreseen.
Chapter 23[]
Katyusha orders her gunner to fire on Miho’s Tiger I, and the shot destabilizes the ground underneath the forward Panzer III escort, causing it to slide down the cliff and into the river. As the tank begins to flood, four of its five crew members are able to evacuate through the turret, which is still above the water; the last girl left inside is Koume, who is about to get out when the vehicle tilts violently, trapping her inside as it starts to sink.
Watching from her Tiger I while dealing with the threat in front, Miho realizes that Koume is missing and leaps out of her tank, jumping into the raging waters to rescue her teammate. Although Tominaga is reluctant to do anything after seeing how treacherous the terrain really is, Erika disregards her panicked protests and starts to drive the tank around in front of Miho’s Tiger, trying to use the tank as a shield.
However, it comes too late. While everyone else has been focusing on the situation unfolding in the water, Katyusha tried to take over for her hesitant gunner, but a shell from Nonna was fired into the turret ring of Miho’s Tiger I, ending the match as Miho emerges from the river with Koume.
The Pravda team waits for the verdict on the match, remaining disciplined as Katyusha delivers the news that they were declared the winners. Their ensuing celebration is incredibly rowdy, but Katyusha is more than delighted to join in the fun.
Trivia[]
- Katyusha is noted to have researched heavily into Pravda, bringing up names that people have called Pravda and analysing matches heavily, putting their losses down to student quality and the loser mentality that has "infested" the school.
- The mysterious girl in Vol 2 Chapter 7 of Saga of Pravda is believed to be Klara, one of Katyusha's Vice-Commanders in the future, as seen in Girls und Panzer der Film, MLLSD, Ribbon Warrior and Das Finale. She has very very similar facial features and the same hair as well as Klara.
- That was confirmed to be true in Chapter 20, when the mysterious girl, after fighting Nonna, introduces herself to her as Klara.
- The Nonna Led Katyusha Victory Division Committee is a reference to the NKVD in real life who acted as umbrella government department for all types of police and special service, including Foreign Intelligence and SpecOps, Internal Counter-Intelligence, Political Police, but also Criminal, Local, and Road Police, etc. They executed the Great Purge under Stalin, forced many people into Gulags, protected Soviet borders, oversaw espionage and political assassinations as well as enforce soviet policies in Puppet Governments such as Poland.
- The handgun used by Sofia in Chapter 7 is deactivated version of PYa (Pistolet Yarygina aka MP-443 Grach, current service pistol of Russian military) shooting blank cartridges.
- Chapter 4 reveals that Earl Grey's leadership helped inspire Rosehip who makes a cameo watching the tournament.
- There are two characters in Saga Of Pravda who are portrayed as wild animals because of their frightening aura, these characters are Klara, who is represented by a wolf in Chapter 20, and Maho, who is represented by a tiger in Móre's imagination Chapter 21.