campaign: Briefing. Gentlemen, as you know with the year 1916 drawing a close, HQ has called for one last sortie to clear the remaining enemy observation balloons from in front of our lines in this sector so that we can launch a ground offensive in the spring. Unfortunately the convoy carrying our reserve of Le Prieur rockets was caught in an enemy barrage last night and destroyed. HQ has managed to obtain a small supply of incendiary bullets from our British allies, but as you know, it is forbidden to use these against anything other than balloons and Zeppelins. Pilots thus armed are reminded of the need to carry written orders on their person in case of capture to avoid summary execution. In short, mes Amis, we are going to have to do this the hard way!
Mission report: A black day for the Entente: the loss of the convoy carrying our Le Prieur rockets made a difficult task even harder and the Germans had thickened their ground defenses with additional machine gun positions. As usual their best fliers were already up their waiting for us and pounced on our brave aviators downing two Nieuports in quick succession. Our remaining pilots pressed home their attack with customary elan and managed to set fire to one of the Hun balloons but it was to little to late: the German ground crews managed to reel in their charges before too much damage had been done, and our surviving airmen made a hasty retreat to safety although not before damaging a Hun two-seater and forcing it down somewhere behind French lines. Our cavalry patrols are out searching for any wreckage or survivors.
Mission 3 Result: Overall Allied victory (2/1). Points awarded after third sortie: Germans 8 points, Allies 1 point.
Our next mission was to attack a troublesome heavy gun battery that had been shelling traffic along the approach roads to our lines. This was to be a joint operation with the British Royal Flying Corps sending an RE 8 and a Sopwith Camel to assist our strike force; the British planes went in first, dodging a hail of ground fire and dropped several bombs on the target area before falling victim to a yellow painted Fokker triplane. Shortly after the Camel suffered a similar fate, leaving the French group to continue alone. Although our BR14 attacked the target with great courage, the intense ground fire couple with the attentions of two Fokkers caused it to overshoot the target and the bombs missed their mark. Intelligence reports the enemy battery was damaged, but not put out of action so further sorties will be necessary.
Mission 4a Allied loss, Germans 9 points
Campaign total so far: Germans 41 points, Allies 36 points
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