Written by The Texans clearly were winning.
Californian President George Carlton was saddened, but he realized something. California had 40 million people, and Texas had 31 million.
Soon, Carlton decided to introduce a conscription system. Although it was met with resistance, the Californian military now had 3.7 million people as compared to the 2.1 million people of the Texan military.
On the front lines, the Texans started to get overwhelmed. However, they kept pushing.
Division General Ford was stopped at the Dusty Valley in central Arizona, about 50 miles from Phoenix. His 130,000 men were met with 200,000 Californian soldiers.
Ford had received word of another tank that was being built.
The Bear one had a 125mm cannon, had bottom armor that was a meter thick, turret armor that was .75 meters thick, had front, top, and back 50 BMG Machine guns, could go 50 mph, and had heating and cooling seats, along with massaging seats.
The M1a3 left mass production to mass produce the Bear I. The M1a3 was a great tank, but speed was what the Texan Military needed, and the Bear I was what they needed.
Here’s a quick comparison of the tanks.
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M1a3 main armament: 130mm special (better)
Bear I main armament: 125mm short
M1a3 Machine Gun: 20mm (better)
Bear I Machine Gun: 50 BMG
M1a3 Speed: 38 mph
Bear I Speed: 50 mph (better)
M1a3 armor: .750 m thick on the bottom, .700 m thick on turret
Bear I armor: 1m thick on the bottom, .750 m thick on the turret (better)
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The M1a3 had much more power, which would be good for the city. But the Bear I was faster and could move through natural terrain better.
The Bear I would be needed for the campaign in Arizona, but the M1a3 would be good for battles in large Californian cities.
On California’s side, they had good tanks, but not the advanced ones like the M1a3 or the Bear I. Their tanks consisted of the M1a2 Abrams, the M1a1 Abrams, the Tiger III (arguably their best tank), and the Bullhorn I.
The only Californian tank that could stand a chance against the M1a3 was the Tiger III, but even the Tiger III had intense difficulty with the M1a3. The Californians had less difficulty with the Bear I, although they still couldn’t match the Bear I.
Back to the battle, here’s a fun fact.
To this DAY, you can still see the destroyed Tiger IIIs, Bullhorn I, and even a small handful of M1a3s and Bear I at Dusty Valley.
The 130,000 Texans pushed on despite being outnumbered.
Although many troops died on each side during this battle, the Tanks were the main ones who duked it out.
112 M1a3s, 374 Bear I’s, and about 258 other Texan tanks strolled into Dusty Valley.
86 Tiger IIIs, 239 Bullhorn I, 147 M1a2 Abrams tanks, and 340 other Californian tanks came out to meet them.
Many Tank crews were forced to flee their tanks, which were almost destroyed, causing the crews in Dusty Valley to have their own land battle, where tank captains shot each other with their big-caliber revolvers, drivers used their shotguns on each other, and gunners used smg’s.
One Californian Captain described it as “sort of a western” battle, as he even witnessed two captains have a former duel, where they each drew their revolvers to see who shot first.
Fun facts:
Most Bear I tank captains had a 500 S&W revolver as their sidearm. Most M1a3 tank captains had a 454 Casull revolver as their sidearm. Most Californian tank captains had a short single shot sawn-off 12 gauge as their sidearm.
The dust was kicked up by all of the bullets, and it was a crazy sight. Although the Texans technically won the tank battle, the Californians managed to force the Texan tank crews to retreat, rendezvousing with the main Texan soldiers.
The main battle was a thriller, too. The Californians pushed the Texans back, then the Texans flanked the Californians.
Then, the Californians fought out of the siege they got caught in, and the Texans won a dogfight against the Californians.
Then the Texans airstrikes the Californians, and then the Californians get back up and push the Texans back, winning the battle.
it was a real wake up call for the Texans, and they would begin to train their troops even harder, making them even more efficient.
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hope you enjoyed this episode, it was fun to write.
goobay.
