It helps. At least to get an understanding of the setting, side characters but you can just find a summary of the series and get a general idea. Basically Schools in Japan have girls only tank battles and most schools represents a theme based off a Country in WW2 or history in general. Oarai Girls' Academy is on the verge of being shut down and an underdog team has to compete in these tank tournaments in order to
save their school (an aircraft carrier with an entire city and school on board) from closing down. There's a bunch of spin off manga that's somewhat considered canon to the main anime series that are also worth looking into as they cover other schools or events prior to the anime. Anzio High is supposed to be based off Italy in WW2 and just like irl history, they are kind of a mess compared to other tank teams.
Do I need to watch the source material to read your fan fics?
It helps. At least to get an understanding of the setting, side characters but you can just find a summary of the series and get a general idea. Basically Schools in Japan have girls only tank battles and most schools represents a theme based off a Country in WW2 or history in general. Oarai Girls' Academy is on the verge of being shut down and an underdog team has to compete in these tank tournaments in order to
save their school (an aircraft carrier with an entire city and school on board) from closing down. There's a bunch of spin off manga that's somewhat considered canon to the main anime series that are also worth looking into as they cover other schools or events prior to the anime. Anzio High is supposed to be based off Italy in WW2 and just like irl history, they are kind of a mess compared to other tank teams.