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| Jatkosota High School |
- "Jatkosota High School was a tough nut to crack, even for Kuromorimine."
- ―Miho Nishizumi
Jatkosota High School (継続高校) (after the Finnish term for the Continuation War) is a minor school in Girls und Panzer. It is mentioned in the first anime series during OVA 6 and appears in Girls und Panzer der Film.
Contents
Overview
Jatkosota High School is based in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
Jatkosota is a relatively isolated school that seems to interact sparingly with other schools compared to their peers. This is a result of its individual tank crews being highly independent, and maintain only minimal contact with their schoolmates. Culturally the students have high endurance and enjoy solitude. Nonetheless, they put a lot of significance on friendships, considering friends to be like family.
Drawing inspiration from Finnish tank models for their Sensha-dō lineup has left Jatkosota with very limited options. The smaller size of their school places strict financial limits on their arsenal, and thus students prefer to invest in upgrades to their existing tanks as opposed to buying new ones.
In order to acquire new vehicles, Jatkosota crews have a habit of stealing tanks from their rivals and using them for themselves, often after having undertaken the unthinkable modifications which are their specialty. This practice has lead to (ongoing) disputes with other schools, and has further contributed to Jatkosota's outcast status. Regardless, Jatkosota's image also includes a reputation for being fierce contestants on the battlefield, able to give the major schools a run for their money.
Uniform
Jatkosota's uniform is composed of a white collared shirt worn under a light blue blouse with vertical white stripes. This is complemented with a grey skirt and matching stockings. As an alternative to the blouse, some students wear a light blue tracksuit with grey sleeves and a darker coloured skirt worn over blue tracksuit pants. The jacket is adorned with a white imprint of the school's kanji (継). A blue and white väinämöinen hat may also be worn as part of the uniform.
Tactics
In Jatkosota, school tactics are defined two things: The available material, and the battlefield terrain. Jatkosota rarely has the luxury of picking and choosing their vehicles, and their multinational arsenal of heavily modified tanks includes many tanks that have lacklustre protection, firepower, or armour penetration capability. standard Jatkosota tactics involve using speed and agility to attack enemy tanks from the side and rear, and engage at very close ranges, to compensate for their low stopping power.
Utilising such tactics places a great burden upon the driver of each Jatkosota crew; it is they who must evade enemy fire, outmanoeuvre and outflank their opponents, and then approach into close quarters with their enemy. As a result, the terrain has a large impact on the school's overall efficiency. Jatkosota's drivers are well accustomed to winter battleground and environments that emulate deep snow. On the other hand, their tanks are markedly less nimble when faced with tropical or desert terrain. On the upside, the school is known to have very accurate gunners, who will can reliably land a shell on any target that can be brought within the effective ranges of their weapons.
Background
Following the formation of Finland in 1917 and Japan's recognition of the country in 1919 the two nations attempted to strengthen an exchange of cultures and trade by opening a route via the Arctic circle. This proved very complicated as Japan had trouble building a viable Ice Breaking ship for the voyage, they instead offered to buy a used German ice breaking vessel for the plan. Despite several successful voyages, the experiment ended in failure as the routes used were only available for a few months of the year meaning regular trade was impossible and the program was shuttered, leaving the ship to rot at the end of a pier. However, luck would have it that the Ishikawa Prefecture were planning to open a new school ship and were more than happy to use an already available vessel.
Against Blue Division
- Main article: Jatkosota High School vs. Blue Division High School
Jatkosota participated in the 63rd National High School Sensha-Dō Tournament and faced Blue Division High School as their first opponent. Their force was composed mainly of tanks of the BT series and T-34 variants, but also included a Panzer IV, a StuG and a T-26. Jatkosota were able to completely outmanoeuvre their opponents on the snowy battlefield, trapping their enemy in a corridor and sandwiching them between two forces.
Against Kuromorimine
- Main article: Kuromorimine Girls Academy vs. Jatkosota High School
Advancing to the second round brought Jatkosota to face Kuromorimine Girls Academy, the runner-ups in the previous year's tournament. The match was fought on a featureless desert, which greatly favoured the opposition's preferred doctrine of battle. Jatkosota's tanks were able to close the distance and engage the enemy in a chaotic melee, but Kuromorimine's made good their technological advantage and eventually knocked Jatkosota out of the tournament.
Against the All-Stars University Team
- Main article: Girls und Panzer der Film
Responding to a call for reinforcements in the annihilation match against the All-Stars University Team, a single BT-42 arrived from Jatkosota, commanded by Mika. The tank initially partook in the action alongside Team Dandelion, but was unable to make an impact due to the long engagement range. Jatkosota saw its most meaningful contribution as part of Acorn Platoon, a strike force sent behind enemy lines to eliminate the university's Karl-Gerät 040. The BT-42 ambushed and lured away the Karl's escort of three M26 Pershings, and ultimately dispatched all three of them with minimal assistance, allowing the rest of the platoon to attack and destroy the self-propelled artillery weapon. However, the BT-42 was itself disabled in the fight.
Notable Members
Jatkosota has four known students of note:
Mika
- Main article: Mika
She is the overall commander of the school. She speaks very calmly and always carries her kantele (Finnish instrument) around with her. She is a capable tactician as well as a cunning opportunist. She is the commander & radio operator of the BT-42.
Aki
- Main article: Aki
The gunner & loader of the BT-42. She is a practical and hardworking girl. She has great faith in her commander, but is often the unfortunate victim of the latter's cryptic statements, many of which are more complex than the meanings they contain.
Mikko
- Main article: Mikko
She is the driver of the BT-42. She is impulsive, hot-blooded and eccentric. She's a very capable driver as she manages to drive the tank even after losing the tracks.
Rumi
- Main article: Rumi
She was a member of the school before being recruited into the All-Stars University Team.
Secondary Members
Touko
She is the former overall commander of the school. She is very eccentric, out of control and wears something resembling of martian antennas on her head. She is also the commander of a T-34/76.
Asuko
She is the gunner of Touko's T-34.
Lili
She is the former vice-commander of the school. She is the complete opposite of Touko and seems to be very irritated with her commander's behavior. She is also the commander of a T-28.
Vehicles Operated
Tanks
- BT-42
- Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf.J
- Sturmi (Finnish version of StuG III Ausf.G)
- T-34/76 m1943
- T-34/85 m1944
- T-26
- T-28
- BT-5
- BT-7
- Vickers 6-Ton
- KV-1 (
Stolen fromBorrowed from Pravda) - Type 95 Ha-Go (
Stolen fromGifted by Chi-Ha-Tan)
Non-fighting vehicles
Theme Music
Trivia
- Jatkosota High School is mentioned in OVA 6 when Mika sends a congratulatory letter to Ooarai Girls Academy.
- Jatkosota's school ship is based off of the Hakusan Maru, a WWI freighter previously known as USS Federal (and later Federlock) before it was captured by the Japanese in 1941.
- An instrumental version of Säkkijärven Polkka is also played by Mika on her Kantele in the movie.
- The girls who crew the BT-42 (Mikko, Aki and Mika) have male names despite being female, although they sound female in Japanese.
- Although considered to be a generally weaker school than the other schools seen in the anime, there are multiple references to the Jatkosota Sensha-dō team's strength:
- In the Anzio OVA, Miho comments that Jatkosota proved a difficult opponent for her and Maho during a practice match with Kuromorimine Girls Academy
- In the spin-off manga Girls und Panzer: Little Army Two, Ooarai is said to be defeated by the Jatkosota High School team.
- In Girls und Panzer der Film, All-Stars University Team's lieutenant Rumi is a product of the Jatkosota Sensha-dō team.
- In the Gekkan Senshado Magazine's despiction of the match with Kuromorimine, there is a mention from Kuromorimine's former vice-commander saying that "Jatkosota was a tough nut to crack even for Kuromorimine". This can be reference to the match covered in Vol.2 and 3 of phase.ERIKA manga.
- The school is mentioned to only be effective in snowy, winter conditions. Yet the BT-42 in Der Film nonetheless performs very well in a muddy, temperate environment and they also quickly learn how to operate on sand during the match against Kuromorimine Girls High School.
- The school's reputation for having accurate gunners is a reference to Simo Häyhä, a talented Finnish sniper who fought during the Winter War .
- As schools are often reflections of the WWII country they represent, tanks fielded by Finland were composed of tanks stolen from Russians and lent by Germany, so we can assume that all tanks fielded by Jatkosota's German tanks were lent by Kuromorimine and their Russian ones were stolen (Mika prefers the term 'borrowed') from Pravda.
- Many of the Tanks Jatkosota operates are among the fastest tanks of WWII but they were of foreign designs.
- There also seems to be a strange correlation between the three main girls along with the characters of the Finnish comic series as well as anime adaption of Moomin.
- During battles their tanks have the callsign Kalevala, which a 19th-century compilation of Finnish epic poetry from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology.
Gallery
- Main article: Jatkosota High School/Gallery
| Schools in Girls und Panzer ☰ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Schools in The Anime Series | Anzio Girls High School ♦ Kuromorimine Girls Academy ♦ Ooarai Girls Academy ♦ Pravda Girls High School ♦ Saunders University High School ♦ St. Gloriana Girls College | |
| Schools in Der Film | Chi-Ha-Tan Academy ♦ Jatkosota High School ♦ All-Stars University Team | |
| Schools in Das Finale | BC Freedom Academy | |
| Schools in The Mangas | Bellwall Academy ♦ Bonple High School ♦ Gilbert High School ♦ Maginot Girls' College ♦ Tategoto High School ♦ Tatenashi High School ♦ West Kureoji Grona High School | |
| Schools in Supplemental Material | Blue Division High School ♦ Count High School ♦ Gregor High School ♦ Koala Forest Academy ♦ Maple High School ♦ Viggen High School ♦ Viking Fisheries High School ♦ Waffle Academy ♦ Yogurt Academy | |
