Heimatfront is a Historical AU fic by CaptainDavidBlake
that is a crossover between Girls und Panzer and several other series, such as Company of Heroes, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Attack on Titan. It takes place in the last days of World War II, when Germany is on the brink of defeat, but hasn't given up the fight just yet. During this time, Maria Nitzschmann is called upon to serve in the BDM, and, along with some of her new friends, delivers tanks to the front lines. On the way, though, they are caught up in the fighting, and must decide whether they're willing to risk their lives for the small chance of enacting a more favorable outcome to the war.
The fic has several installments, known as Episodes, and the links can be found below. It is currently a work in progress.
Heimatfront provides examples of:
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Apart from being less competent, Maria is initially a bit more cautious and reserved around her new friends, not entirely sure whether they can be trusted. She overcomes that, but then has to deal with a much weightier responsibility as leader compared to Miho, who while initially unwilling to lead, gradually became comfortable with her position.
- Anja is a bit colder and more serious than Anzu, spending the majority of her time in the sort of mindset Anzu adopts in the most desperate situations, such as when she bluntly tells Meike that she doesn't have time to think about her decision of whether to stay or leave, because no one does. It's definitely justified by the circumstances.
- The Porsche Tiger's crew, rather than being auto enthusiasts, are army members who aren't happy with a woman being in charge.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: As mentioned in Adaptation Personality Change, Maria is a bit slower to confide in her new friends compared to canon, due to the fear that she might end up letting down her guard and saying something that might get her reported to the Gestapo. She also is unable to comfort Meike due to her role as commander forcing her to keep a certain distance from her subordinate.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Maria is this compared to Miho. While Miho, despite being meek and not very confident in herself, had a wealth of knowledge about tanks and a talent for strategy, Maria has no such talent, and is lucky to survive her battles.
- While Darjeeling's a capable tank commander who has defeated Miho in canon, Darjeeling of Orange is a noncombatant.
- Aloof Big Brother: Like Maho, Marco comes off as a bit cold and distant at first, but in reality, he cares for his sister. He's not happy to see her commanding the BDM girls in their tanks, but grudgingly decides to tolerate it and gives her advice.
- Anger Born of Worry: It's implied that much of Marco's displeasure at seeing Maria on the front lines is over his sister's putting herself in danger.
- Anyone Can Die: Since it's World War II, this is to be expected. Casualties so far include Noemi and the entirety of the Marder's crew.
- Brutal Honesty: When talking with Martin's crew in Episode 4, Anja makes it clear that she doesn't approve of him trying to assert his authority.Anja: I'll get directly to the point. I don't like you.
- The Chains of Commanding: Messner is quite exhausted by the burden of leadership and everything else he's had to go through. The same goes for Maria, who's unable to comfort Meike when the latter hears about her grandmother's collapse and is unable to leave to go see her.
- Darker and Edgier: Very much so compared to canon, especially when you go from a story about a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits competing in the equivalent of a sports tournament to teenagers trying to turn the tide for the losing side in history's bloodiest conflict.
- Dwindling Party: The BDM girls lose quite a few of their members over time, whether due to death, walking away, losing their tanks or other reasons.
- Failure Hero: Maria has yet to achieve anything resembling an actual victory in battle, and considering how the war's going at this point, she likely never will.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since this is historical fiction, the Axis won't win the war.
- Gender Flip: The Saunders girls, most of Hippo Team and Maho are all male here.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Neither side is portrayed as completely good or bad, and both the Allies and the Axis have their turns with the Sympathetic P.O.V..
- Line in the Sand: After delivering their tanks and Noemi's death, Anja essentially tells the other BDM girls that they have to choose whether to go back home or stay and fight. Some take her up on her offer, but others stick it out.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The initial group is largely composed of BDM girls without any training or experience in combat beyond a basic understanding of how to operate the tanks, and it shows.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Noemi, a.k.a. Noriko Isobe of Duck Team is the first named character to die.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Martin and his boys do not get along well with the girls, and for a while, it appears that Martin's angling for command of the entire unit.
- Unbuilt Trope: The fic can be seen as one to the "girls in World War II" fics on the site, even if it's not the first. Rather than being an Alternate History in which the girls are fighting on the front lines with everyone else, the girls aren't even supposed to be fighting in the first place. The characters whose Heimatfront equivalents are soldiers have their name and genders changed as appropriate. Rather than making Miho's equivalent a skilled Panzer ace, the fic has her be a BDM volunteer with as little fighting experience as the rest of her friends- her only qualification is knowing more about tanks than is socially acceptable for a woman in Nazi Germany
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The crew of the Marder, much like their counterparts from Anteater Team, almost instantly get killed off when they encounter the enemy in their first battle.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 2, Chapter 6: Noemi is killed.
- Episode 4, Chapter 12: Maria learns about the Holocaust.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Darjeeling slaps David when she learns he's enlisting, and later gives him a calmer lecture.
