Mission 5 The Bigger They Come
Here comes the beast.
6:34 am, 6 May 1916. Kapitanleutnant Karl vonLinder, commanding the Zeppelin L25, was heading back across the channel after it’s bombing mission over Britain. It was not ending well. A strong upper atmosphere headwind had forced VonLinder to drop below the weather. Antiaircraft fire found the low flying Zeppelin before it departed the British coast. The wounded airship now could not regain it’s desired altitude out of AA range. A course was set to leave the channel somewhere between Dunkirk and Ostend. Messages were sent ahead to try to get an escort by any available scouts since L25s low altitude would invite enemy scouts to the attack. With luck, the L25 may sneak back to friendly territory. With luck.
Kek Alder had been sent north for rest in a quite sector of the front. The planes would be overhauled as maintenance was badly needed for the squadron’s steeds. Barely half the flight were on call with most of the planes in pieces in the hangers.
The call came in. All available planes were to head to the coast to assist L25. But where along the coast will the wounded Zeppelin arrive? Hartwig gathered the three pilots he could and sent them off, Rolf Schafer, Arnold Neumann an Peter Büttner. All were to try to get to the coast without gathering attention. Most likely the British would know a Zeppelin was coming but no need to help them find it. They were to spread out and assist in any way once the L25 was spotted.
A garbled radio message came in reporting a Zeppelin coming in over the Channel east of Dunkirk. The briefing room was abuzz as 2Lt Barker absorbed the info and thought out how to act on it. Alan Raymond-Barker was in command until Lt Agustus Owen returned from the hospital. Alan wasn’t used to command and didn’t like sending friends into harms way. He asked for a volunteer to join him to go aloft and check out the report. William Tuffield was the first to stand, along with the rest of the flight.
Alan would be loaded with incendiary bullets in case the report was true. They would be flying some French Nieuports, said to be quite agile. The DH2s were to be replaced with them if they proved themselves.
Off they went, and not long into the flight the giant was spotted.
Hartwig flew due north towards Ostend, Arnold flew just west of Dunkirk while Rolf went east of Ostend.
Büttner was coming up on Veurne and thought he could see something on the horizon but the low morning sun hindered his vision. He had been warned about possible AA as several planes had been shot at last week while on patrol.
Sure enough, just to the south of Veurne some inaccurate fire began.
As Alan and Tuffy approached the giant, both were intimidated by it’s size. They slowly flew closer and the giant harmlessly lashed out.
Tuffy was not feeling good about this. He fired at long range thinking he couldn’t miss. He saw no effect, thinking his bullets can’t possibly harm this monster!
Alan was also a bit uneasy but was reassuring himself his incendiary bullets would do the trick. If he and Tuffy could lead the beast into the AA at Veurne, that should pay the piper.
The Zeppelin’s gunners had a stable platform to shoot from and they hit home. Alan felt like a hammer hit his engine, he’s on fire! Tuffy’s little Bebe shuddered with the incoming lead.
As they raced in for a closer shot the monster gave better than it took. Alan sprayed the aft cupola before aiming higher into the beast’s body, but no damage to be seen. Tuffy watched his plane being ripped by the excellent aim of the Zeppelin gunners.
VonLinder was hit! A bit of chaos ensued as officers each attempted to take control until VonLinder firmly let them know he was not dead yet, and still in command.
Büttner thought he had gotten past the AA but a close burst let him know it had a long reach.
Both planes got directly underneath the monster trying to think of how to attack it better.
Peter now clearly saw the Zeppelin. He was amazed of it’s size! How could anything that massive fly!
Two specks were flittering like flies beneath it, British scouts. He had to get in there quick to help.
Tuffy’s plane was in tatters and he knew he had to get out of the fight.
Alan maneuvered to get a close in shot hoping his incendiary ammo would do some real damage.
The gunners in the cupolas were frantically looking for the enemy scouts when one appeared from underneath.
Both sides took hurried shots
Tuffy made a break for it and left the shadow of the beast. The gunners were ready and Peter was positioning himself for an attack. Diving down from above the Zeppelin he might not be seen.
At the last second Tuffy noticed the Eindeker swooping in on him. He turned just in time to fire. His aim was true as the German machine shuddered with damage but Herr Büttner’s aim was better. The Bebe burst into flames and went down quickly.
Peter kept diving while turning toward the front of the Zeppelin, looking for the second Britisher. As he came well beneath the L25 he saw it destroyed by the gunners in the forward cupola.
No time to celebrate as the guns on the ground opened up. A direct hit! Fire erupts and the engineers desperately try to put it out.
Seeing no other enemy planes in the sky Peter dove down to attack the AA guns. Once he was low enough to shoot he also put himself in range of the other guns. A close burst distracted his fire but at least he did do some damage.
Two guns now open up on the L25, luckily for VonLinder, little damage.
Peter Split-Ss to keep low but jams his guns with the battery still alive.
As Peter tries to get clear the jam he is attacked by the southern battery, out of range of the Zeppelin but not the Eindeker.
( I missed a photo here where the northern battery hits for 6 points and an engine damage and the center battery misses the Zeppelin.)
Finally able to shoot again Peter curls around to the northern battery scoring some good hits but not enough to put it out of action.
Peter sets up for another strafing run and takes out the northern guns. The center battery puts a round solidly into the belly of the beast.
VonLinder’s condition is not very good but he won’t relinquish command. His erratic directions bring the ship into range of the southern battery. Lucky for him it misses.
Peter now takes aim again on the center battery only to jam his guns again!
While Peter clears his guns again VonLinder veers north. The center battery fires again and misses while the only target for the southern battery is Peter. Luck is with the German boy as the shot isn’t close.
Both sides are frantic. Peter resetting his gun, VonLinder pushing his engineers to the limit and the ground batteries loading and firing as fast as possible.
Peter makes another run and takes out the center battery as it fires off it’s last inaccurate shot.
VonLinder isn’t out of trouble yet as the wind keeps nudging him south. Peter sees this and knows he has one more target to silence to save the Zeppelin.
Peter makes a run scoring some damage before the battery can defend itself.
As the Eindeker passes over, the battery commander knows he must take down the plane or he’ll never get another shot at the Zeppelin.
With fewer and wounded crew, they try to take down the German flyer.
Peter is relieved they missed again but he must herry as the next shot will kill either him, the Zeppelin or the battery!
(middle shot above the battery should marked 2, last shot above should be ready to fire next card, not marked as 2)
Peter fires first, and there are not enough crew to work all the guns nor time to get off another shot as the Zeppelin, L25, floats away to the safety of its own lines.
Butcher’s Bill
2Lt William Tuffield SD FLM FT 7 - 2 = 5 Injured, 1 1 = -1 scenario
2Lt Allen Raymond-Barker SD EXP FT 7 - 3 = 4 severely injured, 6 = -6 scenarios
North Battery Out of Action
Center Battery Out of Action
South Battery Out of Action
Zeppelin L25 2 hits remaining!
Ltn Peter Büttner RTB 1 KIA, 3 batteries silenced, L25 survives!
Aftermath...
When Büttner returned to the aerodrome later that morning he excitedly told his story. All listened with interest but when he finished they all burst out in laughter. What a bunch of whooie. "Nice story Peter, but how do you expect anyone to believe it?", commented Rolf. "Just because you shot down a balloon and EA on one shot doesn't mean you can get us to believe anything!" hollered Rienhardt. "C'mon Peter, no need to try to puff out your chest any more", added Otto. Hartwig took Peter aside, "Don't be telling stories now that aren't true, you'll ruin your growing reputation". He patted Peter on the back and headed off to the office with a quizzed look on his face while scratching his chin.
Later that afternoon a dispatch rider appeared. He was looking for the pilot of an Eindeker with orange trim. Word spread quickly and all gathered in the briefing room. Kapitanleutnant Karl vonLinder, commander the Zeppelin L25, was trying to find the pilot that saved his airship that morning. When he finds him he is invited to visit VonLinder in Maastricht. VonLinder would have visited himself but was having his wounds attended to in the hospital there.
The whole Kek was stunned in disbelief that turned to awe. He was telling the truth! It was him! They attacked Peter and carried him and the dispatch rider to the mess. Out of nowhere a keg appeared and was flowing in an instant. Now they made Peter repeat his story over and over again into the night.
Noon the next day another dispatch rider came to get Peter to take him to Maastricht. VonLinder was bandaged up but in good spirits upon meeting his savior. "Another ten like you and we would win the war next week"! chortled VonLinder. "You have done a great service to your nation and myself. I am recommending you for the Knights Cross with swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern, it's the least I can do. You have leave for the next three days but don't leave Maastricht, I want you to meet a few people". Peter was speechless.
The next evening in his best uniform he was brought to a grand ballroom full of the affluent, dignitaries and top military Leaders. VonLinder was in the midst of telling the tale of the event when Büttner arrived. To Peter's astonishment he was introduced to the Commander-in-Chief General Erich von Falkenhayn. The rest of the evening is a blur of food, drink, names, faces, retelling the tale and a few young ladies.
Büttner laid low the next two days touring Maastricht and the surrounding area. He ate well and had use of a car and driver, supplied by VonLinder. There were a couple of meetings with VonLinder to meet a few more of his friends.
Returning to the front was a relief. He wasn't fond of the spit and polish and air of the upper echelon. He was much more comfortable at home on the front where he could fly. Hartwig greeted him on his return. "You surprise us all Herr Büttner, but what will you do next"?
I rolled average initial hits on the Zep. Amazingly they were one hit per cell group. I kept track with dice and marked off cells with fire markers as they were destroyed. Note the tiny die showing ‘2’ in the one un-destroyed cell.
I forgot to show the engineers attempts at fighting the fire, they didn’t put it out but it was minor, 2 points of damage. If I did it correctly they needed to pull a 4 from the B deck to put it out as the initial fire damage was a 4 point card?
I missed a couple of photos, only one of action. This I noted in the text where 2 batteries fired on the Zeppelin, one hit for 6 points and an engine hit (which I forgot to repair) and one missed. Another was just a maneuver with no firing.
Don't know when I turned on having the date on the photo. I'll get rid of that next time!
Not sure if firing at the batteries was allowed but Büttner had nothing else to do! No mention of troops in the area as this was well behind the lines so I didn’t add any AA MG or infantry fire. Büttner did risk a bit of AA himself but as they all missed nothing would be different it they had fired on the Zep...
Without Büttner’s ace skill he would not have taken out all the batteries.
Sorry it took so long for me to get to this scenario. Making the Zep took longer than I thought. Too bad life gets in the way!
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What a dramatic 
Originally Posted by flash
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