Strike Witches: Operation Victory Arrow

In July of 1945, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and allied naval fleet destroyed the Neuroi hive over Venezia, liberating the country (the climatic events of Strike Witches 2). After this victory the 501st JFW was disbanded. Most Strike Witches members were reassigned to fronts in or around their homelands, while Yoshika Miyafuji has entirely retired from service due to draining her magic reserves in order to destroy the hive over Venezia, and is now living a quiet, ordinary civilian life; Mio Sakamoto remains in IFN service, though as she's aged out of her magic abilities Mio is no longer a witch.
Operation Victory Arrow primarily follows three groups of Strike Witches members across its three episodes. Saint-Trond's Thunder is set half a month after the end of Strike Witches 2, with Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, Gertrud Barkhorn, and Erica Hartmann, along with night witch Heidemarie W. Schnaufer stationed at Saint-Trond airbase in the Kingdom of Belgica; they're also joined by Erica's twin sister, the genius engineer Ursula Hartmann. Goddess of the Aegean Sea involves the continued adventures of Francesca Lucchini and Charlotte Yeager, joined by Hanna-Justina Marseille and Raisa Pöttgen, as they attempt to take out a stubborn Neuroi that's hiding inside the island of Delos, and save the ancient ruins on the island; the commander of all witch forces in Africa, Edytha Neumann, as well as General Rommel himself also appear. Arnhem Bridge follows Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann and Lynette Bishop, along with Amelie Planchard as they continue to aid in rebuilding Gallia after its liberation in September, 1944 at the end of the first season; the story primarily revolves around the orphaned Dutch children Julius and Rose, who Perrine takes into her care.
Additionally, each episode features a short post-credits scene of Yoshika receiving or sending a letter to the witches featured in that episode. The last episode also features a post-credits cameo of Eila Juutilainen and Aleksandra Litvyak visiting the Brave Witches' frontline base, as well as Mio Sakamoto working on a certain pet project.
Chronologically, Operation Victory Arrow takes place after Strike Witches 2, and is followed by Strike Witches: The Movie, which was released before OVA, in 2012.
For more in-depth explanations of the lore and setting of the World Witches universe, see the first season's page.
Warning: Some descriptions and images are spoilers for the series, read at your own risk.
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=Pistols=
==Gendarmerie sidearm==
A member of the Gendarmerie Nationale in Pas-de-Calais chases after Julius, an orphaned refugee from Nederland who stole some cold medicine for his little sister Rose. Given the variety of possible sidearms available at the time, it's impossible to say for sure what's in his holster.
=Shotguns=
==over/under shotgun==
In a flashback to the beginning of the Neuroi invasion, a group of Dutch civilians attempt to hold back the Neuroi on a bridge at Arnhem, Nederland, armed with nothing but double barrel shotguns.
=Assault Rifles & Rifles=
==StG 44==
Ursula Hartmann arrives at the Saint-Trond base with loads of gifts and equipment to test, among them is an StG 44 fitted with a Krummlauf (curved barrel) attachment. A witch needing to shoot around corners in the sky seems rather questionable, but that's also the point of this scene, with a bunch of Ursula's fancy tech being various levels of silly. All of them are based on or inspired by real world experimental German tech, and are included in this same entry.
==Boys Mk I*==
Lynette Bishop continues to use a Boys Mk I* as her signature weapon, though in an ironic reversal, in Arnhem Bridge she uses one borrowed from Perrine, who normally uses borrowed Britannian weapons. The Pantaloni Rossi trio from the 504th JFW make a cameo in a slideshow briefing by Group Captain Edytha Neumann about the Neuroi on Delos; the Ardor Witches are seen attempting to attack it directly, with no success.
=Machine Guns=
==Bren Mk 1 (M)==
While Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann doesn't regularly carry around her Bren Mk 1 (M) at this point, due to being well behind the lines aiding in rebuilding Gallia, her butler Jean-Paul had a hidden weapon locker installed in the Clostermann residence in case of emergency.
thumb|none|400px|Bren Mk 1 (M) - .303 British
==Browning M1918A2==
Charlotte Yeager continues to use a BAR as her standard weapon, though she doesn't so much as fire a shot with it in Operation Victory Arrow, opting to use bombs, unconventional methods, and her mastery of mechanical devices instead.
==Browning M1919A6==
The Liberian-made Browning M1919A6, modified with a fixed and easily swappable ammo box, remains Francesca Lucchini's weapon of choice.
==MG 34==
The Africa-based witches Hanna-Justina Marseille and Raisa Pöttgen of the 31st JFS, as well as Edytha Neumann, commanding officer of all witches in the African theatre use the MG 34 as their weapon of choice, as opposed to the MG 42 preferred by Karlsland witches in Europe.
==MG 42==
The witch-version MG 42, modified to use Patronentrommel 34 drums, continues to be used by all the usual witches, such as the Karlsland trio, Eila Juutilainen, and some of the Ardor Witches.
==Type 99-2 Model 2 Kai==
The iconic World Witches version of the Type 99 cannon only gets a cameo in Operation Victory Arrow, prominently held by Yoshika Miyafuji in the opening credits. With Yoshika having drained her magic and Mio having aged out, there aren't any Fuso witches that appear who are capable of using it, at present.
For the rather lengthy technical explanation of the witches' Type 99-2 Model 2 Kai variant, see its first season entry.
=Launchers=
==Fliegerhammer==
In Saint-Trond's Thunder, Ursula Hartmann uses the rocket launcher she herself designed, the nine-barrel Fliegerhammer; Aleksandra Litvyak is also seen with one in the opening credits. The Fliegerhammer was inspired by (both in-universe and out) the Fliegerfaust.
For additional details, see its first season entry.
==PIAT Mk I==
Along with the Bren and Boys, Perrine's hidden armoury also contains a PIAT, with three rounds, which Perrine brings in addition to her Bren. Although in reality "PIAT" is an acronym for "Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank", supplementary info reveals that in this universe it instead stands for "Projector, Infantry, Armoured-Thing", due to being developed to combat the Neuroi.
=Autocannons=
==MG 151/20==
Night witch Heidemarie Schnaufer uses an MG 151/20 cannon as her weapon of choice; she is only seen using a training MG 151/20 in Operation Victory Arrow. Similar to the other large cannons wielded by witches, the MG 151 has been modified with a top-mounted vertical pistol grip, a horizontal grip for the off-hand, and a detachable drum magazine; the weapon is otherwise essentially unmodified.
==MK 214==
A MK 214 cannon was brought by Ursula to Saint-Trond for testing, alongside a refined version of the Me 262 Schwalbe jet striker. This massive cannon is similar to the BK 5 that appeared in Strike Witches 2, as in reality both were developed in parallel as aircraft versions of the 5cm PaK 38 anti-tank cannon; the BK 5 was Rheinmetall's project, the MK 214 was Mauser's.
=506th Joint Fighter Wing, Noble Witches cameo=
Four members of the Noble Witches appear in the smallest of cameos, as simple silhouettes flying far overhead. Given the composition of the 506th, this is certainly A-unit, stationed in Sedan, comprising of Heinrike Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (MG 151), Adriana Visconti (MG 42, or a pair of Fliegerhammers), Kunika Kuroda (MG 42), and Isabelle du Monceau de Bergendal (Boys). These four, plus Noble Witches commanding officer Rosalie de Hemricourt de Grunne, all make proper cameos in Strike Witches: The Movie.
=Vehicle-Mounted & Stationary Weapons=
==Breda-SAFAT 12.7mm machine gun==
A pair of P.108B bombers are seen having attempted to take out the Neuroi on Delos in Edytha Neumann's briefing, however both were destroyed. The P.108B is armed with a total of six Breda-SAFAT machine guns chambered in 12.7mm, with one nose gunner, one ventral gunner, and a twin turret in each outboard engine nacelle, controlled remotely.
==Type 97==
Having aged out of her magic, Mio Sakamoto is seen flying an A6M3 Reisen in the opening credits. The Zero is armed with a pair of Type 97 aircraft machine guns in the engine cowling, as well as a pair of Type 99 cannons in the wings.
==Type 99 Mark 1==
In addition to its Type 97 MGs, the A6M is armed with a Type 99 Mark 1 cannon in each wing. When equipped on Zeros, the Mark 1 can be identified due to not protruding from the wing (as seen here) while the scaled-up Mark 2 sticks out significantly.
thumb|none|400px|Top: Type 99 Mark 1 Model 3 - 20x72mmRB / Bottom: Type 99 Mark 2 Model 3 - 20x101mmRB
==MG 34 Panzerlauf==
A Tiger I is seen in the opening credits, and while they're not visible from the rear, it would be armed with a pair of MG 34 Panzerlauf variants, one in the coaxial mount, one hull-mounted, as well as its 8.8cm KwK 36 main cannon. This Tiger is actually a pre-production version of the H1 variant, specifically marked as Tiger 100, with "100" and white elephant markings; this is the same model seen in The Movie.
==8.8cm FlaK 36==
A trio of the iconic "eighty-eights" are seen in the opening credits.
==Bofors 40mm L/60==
Saint-Trond airbase is heavily defended by large AA batteries which appear to be oversized twin-mounted Bofors guns.
==2cm FlaKVierling 38==
The Brave Witches' small frontline base near Petersburg is defended by several FlaKVierling 38 quad-cannons. As Brave Witches is set before Strike Witches 2, this scene takes place much later than the events of Brave Witches.
==Naval Weapons==
A Venezian/Romagnan fleet appears prominently in Goddess of the Aegean Sea, as does the Liberty-class cargo ship SS Peter Skene Ogden. In addition, battleship Yamato makes a cameo in a post-credits scene at the very end of OVA, and several other battleships appear in the opening credits. The Liberty ship is armed with one 3-inch gun at the bow, one 5-inch gun at the stern, along with eight 20mm/70 Mark 4 autocannons. A full list of armament for the rest of the ships can be found on the second season page.
Category:Anime
Category:War
Category:Science-Fiction
Category:Japanese Produced/Filmed