"History repeats itself."
- General Donat Lisowski, when asked by Field Marshall Hussein on how why he decided to attack them after Field Marshall Hussein was captured.

It is no secret that the Paternian Army favors charges whenever the situation is desperate and immediate offensive action is needed. This is precisely what the 33rd Armored Division, also known as The Winged Hussars, did.

The 33rd Armored Division comprised mostly of Poles, who have left Poland to fight for the Paternian Republic. The volunteers were organized in five divisions; two infantry (the 48th and the 91st), and two mechanized (the 98th and the 102nd), and a single armored division (the 33rd Armored Division). While all five divisions fought with distinction, the 33rd is perhaps the most famous for their role in the Battle of Seattle.

The 33rd Armored Division, while Paternian, retained patriotism for Poland, and promptly called themselves the "Winged Hussars", a common name for the Polish Hussars.

The Polish Hussars of the late 16th century and the late 17th century were perhaps the best heavy cavalry unit to have ever existed. Throughout this period, they challenged armies many times their size -- and won, inflicting disproportionate casualties upon their foes.

Their most famous battle the Winged Hussars fought in was that of the Battle of Vienna in 1683, where their presence, 18,000 cavalrymen, charged the 140,000 strong Ottoman force besieging the city, and routed them decisively, relieving the city after sixty days of siege.

The Winged Hussars would reprise this role.

During the Siege of Seattle, three regiments of Paternian Army infantry, a Marine Expeditionary Division, and a militia made up of able-bodied men and women between 15 and 55, held off five whole Awwami armies, descending north and cutting off the city. For thirty days, the city held strong, despite the odds.

Their refusal to surrender was driven in part by atrocities committed by the Awwami Army in towns outside of Seattle, where they offered no resistance, yet had their people massacred when they refused to convert to Islam, forcing them into the town church and burned alive. Survivors of the fire were shot as they tried to escape. Only a small boy survived, and ran to Seattle to tell of the atrocity.

However, by the end of this, they were out of virtually everything except sheer courage and determination. They knew if relief did not arrive in five days, they would be forced to unconditionally surrender to an unknown fate.

That was when the 33rd Armored Division, commanded by General Donat Lisowski arrived. They have been scouting the Awwami force for several weeks, waiting for reinforcements, when a message, sent by the defenders of Seattle, warned that they could not wait for relief much longer.

The 33rd Armored Division was ordered to wait for reinforcements, but none arrived by the time the message arrived. General Lisowski knew he had to do something, but with the odds firmly out of his favor, it seemed he could do little.

That night, he recounted a story about the role of the Winged Hussars during the Battle of Vienna, and how under similar odds, successfully relieved the city. This was not lost upon the Poles, as this battle is something of national pride. It was not hard for them to see parallels between 1683 Vienna and 2089 Seattle.

The next morning, he gave his division the order to charge the Awwami forces. 250 tanks strong, they dived straight into 2,000 Awwami tanks sent to counter them.

Despite the ostensibly lopsided order of battle, the Poles had a few advantages. Firstly, they were incredibly well-trained and were highly experienced, many veterans from the Polish Army. Secondly, they held the element of surprise; while the Awwami forces knew they would attack eventually, they did not know when or where. Finally, their tanks were superior to the Awwami vehicles. Where the Awwami Suleimani and Layl tanks were perfectly capable of dealing with the more numerous Ardent main battle tanks, they were less familiar with the Victoria main battle tank, which the 33rd Armored Division was equipped with.

Featuring legendary armor and firepower than the Ardent, the few instances where the Awwami Army encountered them certainly left a fearful impression on them. In many instances, lone M5 Victoria tanks have driven back or halted far more numerous Awwami Army forces, simply because they could not destroy it. This was of little concern, as it was believed the M5 Victoria was dispersed among M6 Ardent units, and that in many cases, they were able to overwhelm them due to sheer numbers.

And so the Winged Hussars and their 250 Victoria main battle tanks, with General Lisowski at the head, charged headfirst into the belly of five armies.

Their first victim was three armored divisions sent to halt them. Instead, Winged Hussars dug in on the hillside, and from hull-down positions, slaughtered the Awwami Army divisions as they charged. They mounted a counterattack of their own, utterly decimating the units.

When Field Marshall Hussein heard of their rout, he committed the rest of his armored force against the Poles.

However, General Lisowski was no fool, and he decided to split his force, so as to provide crossfire into the advancing Awwami armor. Firing enfilade into the Awwami tanks, they utterly destroyed the five divisions sent to crush them.

The 33rd Armored Division decided to charge the logistics hubs, the quake cannon position, and several artillery batteries. Their rapid advance into these positions, in addition to the losses inflicted, sown chaos into the ranks of the Awwami Army. Seeing their chance for a breakout, the defenders of Seattle mounted an attack of their own, utterly devastating the confused resistance the Awwami Army could put up.

The 33rd Armored Division pursued the retreating portion of the Awwami armies, utterly annihilating the force. In the process, Field Marshall Hussein was captured by the Paternian Army. It was the respect the Polish tankers had did they not hand them over to the people of Seattle, who would have tortured him to death for his crimes during the battle.

The Siege of Seattle and the subsequent relief by the Winged Hussars is widely seen as a turning point in the North American campaign, for the siege marked the first time Awwami forces were defeated in decisive battle by outnumbered Paternian forces. The Paternian Army began to drive back the Awwami armies, confining them to Canada by the war's end.

In neutral Poland, the people celebrated this victory. Although generally indifferent to both sides of the Great World War 2, it simply seemed appropriate to celebrate the exceptional performance of the Polish tankers in combat. The President of Poland gave the 33rd Armored Division granted them the ability to use the title "Winged Hussars", as long as its tradition of excellence was maintained. To this day, the 33rd Armored Division, although now made up of mostly non-Poles, retain this name.

The 33rd Armored Division would help with recovery efforts before ordered to move north to take the rest of Washington and British Columbia, with great success.

After the war, many Victoria M5A5, the type of tank used by the Paternian Winged Hussars, were either being converted to the M5A6 or sold cheaply as surplus. The City of Seattle decided to procure one for a memorial to the Siege and honoring the Paternian Winged Hussars who relieved them. As it turns out, the tank delivered was in fact the machine which General Donet Lisowski commanded during the battle.

General Donet Lisowski was promoted to Field Marshall after the war, and retired from the Paternian Army to return to Poland to a hero's welcome. However, much of his army decided to stay in the new home they call Paternia, and many decided to assist in rebuilding a devastated Seattle. They settled in the northern area of Seattle, in what became unofficially known as "Little Warsaw". The Polish-Paternian community grew through immigration from Poland, and soon they became a prominent minority in the city they liberated.