1942

Chapter 4 | The Journey

Frederik's POV:

After we had all gotten familiar with the tank, sat around in it, made the tank to our liking and all that, we were assigned to a new Battalion: 

2nd Royal Armoured Battalion. We painted on our number '211', 2nd Battalion, of the 1st Company, of the 1st Tank, as well as 3 white strips, our kills, on the barrel and Paula on the Barrel as well. We were all sitting around, wondering around, with not much to do since, well, the 'incident'. Soon though, on a rather cold day, we recieved word that we would take part in a Parade through Stockholm. It would start from Southern Stockholm (where we were), we would then drive through Stockholm, until we reached the Royal Palace. From there, we would disembark for inspection by the king himself. Everyone was both excited, and nervous. We had never actually been on Parade before. We didn't come from noble families, or anything like that, we were just ordinary lads, and we didn't know how to act in front of the King, or the Royal Family. In the end, we all figured, act normal. Don't be all stiff, or strict, just answer the King if he asks, and follow orders. What's more was that the Parade was postponed to tomorrow, because the army needs us on the front asap, and since the king wanted to first see us, and apparently "Grant us Luck", we were having the Parade tomorrow. I called for a meeting in the barracks.

When I arrived, everyone was chatting, about things like "What's going on?" and "Is the parade really happening tomorrow?" I shushed everyone down, cleared my throat and said:

"Ok, so firstly, yes, the parade is tomorrow." at this, there was a lot of murmuring. "Secondly, no drinking or parting tonight whatsoever, we don't need any headaches tomorrow." everyone groaned at this. "Thirdly, I need everyone to do an inspection of their tanks, check the engines, transmissions, etc. We can't afford mechanical failure tomorrow" and with that, I freed everyone, and went to the garage with my crew to see how 'Paula' was doing. Paula was as usual, standing out from everyone else in the warehouse. We checked the engine, and since we hadn't even started it, the tank was pretty much good, though we checked the fuses and such. After that, when we returned to the barracks, I collapsed, and fell asleep

The Next Day...

I woke up, the window was open, it was still dark out, but then I checked the time, and it made my eyes pop all the way to Helenski. "Jesus Christ, its 5:40! UP UP EVERYONE!"
Everyone woke up, confused and disorientated, but when they saw the time, they also jumped. Klaus, Karl, Hans, Simo and me ran across the barracks waking everyone up. Soon, the entire battalion was awake, and getting ready. I already had my uniform on, a black coat, with the Iron Cross on it, as well as the Swedish 3 Crowns insignia on my coat, next to the cross. I already had my officers cap on, and was running down the hall, with my crew. We ran and had breakfast, and the chefs asked were the hell were we. The parade was due to begin at exactly 07:00. We had our breakfast, did our business and ran to the tanks. Now this is why I got the battalion up so early. It was already 6:42, and it was cold, -5 Celsius, and due to that, the engines had trouble starting. I grabbed a metal bar, a huge key which is used to start up the engine (and don't ask what its called, I never got the name of it myself, ask Klaus). We had to screw it back and forth, in the engine to start up the engine. The first tank in my battalion to start up was a L-60. Soon the driver was revving the engine, and its crew already ready. Tanks began to start up all around us, but the damned M/42 didn't. Just as the clock hit 06:55 we were about to give up, the engine started. We all clambered aboard, and the engine was roaring. Soon, everyone was ready, and as the Clock struck 07:00, we rolled out, the M/42 in the lead. I was sitting in the Cupula, looking out ahead on the road. As we rolled down the street, people gawked at the sight of these machines. Police had to keep people back on the sidewalks from surrounding the tanks. In the battalion, there were only about 50 in total, which,  compared to the BT's and the T-26's, wasn't many, but what we lacked in numbers, technology made up for it. Karl and Hans were looking out out of their hatches, looking at the road ahead. Confetti rained down on the road, people were singing the National anthems of the Nordic nations, it was a blast. Soon enough, we reached the palace. We drove onto the Inspection square in front of the Palace. 
"Keep the engines running" I told the other commanders. After the difficulty in the morning, we didn't want that to happen again.