The dispatch rider brought his motor cycle to a stop outside the Hearts of Oak Squadron office hut.
Entering the Hut he presented himself to the Orderly Sargent "Urgent Dispatch for Major Triggers from Army HQ!"
The OS knocked on Triggers door & announced the Sgt.
Triggers opened the Red Envelope & exclaimed "Damn & Blast!" "Trust HQ to lump this on to us while Captain King is away in Paris for the award of his C de G"."Get Father over here at once along with Lt. Tiny Large".
The two Officers duly arrived & Triggers outlined the information in the dispatch.
"Seems our intelligence chaps have discovered the jolly old Hun intends to make a big push to recapture the ground we have taken & they have some new type of troops trained for lightening attacks without prior Artillery barrage. Called something like Storm Troopers"
"Anyway HQ have arranged for some of those new Tanks to repel the expected attacks & want a maximum effort with Scouts & Bombers to both protect our forces & harass the attackers". "In Captain Kings absence I want you, Lt Large to lead the mission & take two 2 seaters with bombs plus two Scouts also equipped with 20 Pound Cooper Bombs to add to the attack. I will leave it to you to pick your crews.
Tiny assembled his pilots & explained the mission.
He chose 2nd Lt Mick O'Leary to fly Camel No.3 & his proven crew of Ralph Medium & Lionel Rare to fly the Bristol Fighter whilst their new pilot Sgt Justin Thyme would be paired with the experienced observer 1st Lt James Earl. Due to the urgency of the mission they would take off in the late afternoon after the Aircraft had all been fuelled & armed.
Father did a final briefing with the bomber crews as the planes were readied for takeoff.
Meanwhile on the other side of the Lines, the despondency that had affected the remaining pilots of the Eagles Jasta after the loss of their loved & respected Staffelfeuher Harry Von Bukard on their last mission, had been lifted by the arrival back at the Front of their experienced pilot Ltn Wilhelm Ulmer after his long absence due to wounds. Ulmer had been appointed to fill Von Bukards role as leader.
He had also brought with him one of the vaunted Fokker Dr.I Triplanes.
At his suggestion they repainted their scouts in Black & White colours in respect for Von Burkard.
Also the news that a new counter attack was planned with the new secret weapon of Srosstruppen, lightening fast ground troops to infiltrate the British lines had improved morale no end.
Now they had the chance to assist in the expected victory by flying two bombers accompanied by scouts to support the attack.
The Mission
The British aircraft took off & soon approached the front lines where they saw below the lumbering tanks moving forward accompanied by troops.
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In the near distance they saw 4 German Aircraft also approaching the trench line. Waggling his Wings Tiny gave the signal to attack.
As they closed he noticed that the Scouts were sporting mostly Black & White colours on Wings or fuselage & tails.
The RE8 exchanged fire with an Albatross whilst O'Leary did the same against a Rumpler 2 seater.
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The Biff also exchanged fire with a Halberstadt & disaster immediately struck the British aircraft as a fire erupted from the engine.
"Bloody Hell" shouted Ralph Medium "haven't even got close to the action & here we are on fire!"
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As Mick O'Leary passed close to the Rumpler he copped a good burst from the rear gunner.
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As they passed each other Lionel Rare got his own back on the German plane & set it on fire too.
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The action on the ground now started to hot up as the first units of Stormtroopers closed on the British front lines.
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The Tanks now came within range of the attacking Germans & one Tank scored a direct hit with its main gun & wiped out a unit of the Troopers.
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Back in the Air the Bristol & Halberstad were weaving to try to keep the fires under control & the German plane took a snap shot at Tiny Large but missed,
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The Harry Tate now made its first run on a unit of Storm Troopers & although the bombs fell close no casualties were observed.
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The Rumpler also dropped some bombs but again no damage was done,
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Concentrating on its bombing Run the German Pilot almost collided with the Albatross but fortunately no damage was done to either aircraft.
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As the Biff continued to manoeuvre fighting its fire it came under attack from Ulmer's Fokker & came off the worst.
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The Halberstadt & the Bristol also continued to battle the flames.
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A three way battle was now waging between Mick O'Leary's Camel, the Albatross, whose Pilot had been wounded early in the encounters & the RE 8.
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Back on the Ground the Tanks & Stormtroopers continued to close on each other & again the tanks did not score a hit.
The British Trenches & Machine guns also exchanged fire with the German Troops.
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Ulmer & the Biff continued their duel but the Biff's rear gun jammed after the first shot!
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Disaster now struck the German Halberstadt as the Fire reached its fuel tank which exploded!
Whilst the Bristol's fire seemed to be dying out.
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The Rumpler & Tiny Large exchanged shots with the Rumpler doing the greater damage whilst a deflection shot from O'Leary missed the Albatross.
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The Rumpler now struck a blow for the Germans by dropping a bomb & damaging one of the British Tanks.
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But Mick O'Leary had followed the German Bomber & now with a well aimed burst shot it out of the Sky!
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The RE 8 which had dived to level 2 to try to get a more accurate bomb result unloaded a partial drop & caused minor damage to another unit of Stormtroopers.
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The RE 8 & Albatross now traded shots with neither doing much damage.
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One of the tanks & a Stoormtrooper unit exchanged shots with only minor damage occurring.
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However two other tanks which were now much closer to the enemy fired their main weapons with spectacular results wiping out two units of stormtroopers!
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The Albatross had dived down to the RE 8 but was met with a welcoming salvo!
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Ulmer attacked O'Leary but the Fokker's guns jammed.
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Meanwhile the RE 8 had attacked another Stormtrooper Unit & this time was rewarded with success wiping it out to a man.
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Tiny Large took advantage of Ulmer's gun jam to make a frontal attack with good results.
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The Tanks, Machine guns & Stormtroopers continued to exchange fire but the Tanks were now almost past the few remaining Trooper units.
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Wilhelm Ulmer having shaken off his pursuers now made a run to bomb the British forces but to no avail.
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Tiny Large took the opportunity of a lull in the action to take in the Battlefield & was gratified to see the number of German units that had been neutralised.
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Having dropped his Bombs Ulmer now pulled an Immleman & caught Mick by surprise & gave him a good hosing which caused the Camel's engine to start smoking.
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Tiny Large now lined up one of the few remaining German Units for his own Bombing run.
Unfortunately due to his altitude the bombs fell on the far side of the target causing no damage.
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Mick O'Leary had circled around behind Tiny & taking a great opportunity got off a short range burst past his fellow Camel Pilot catching Ulmer square on & this burst proved just too much for the Fokker which spun into the ground in No Mans Land.
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Mick O'Leary now lined up on one of the two remaining Stormtrooper units & scored a direct hit wiping out yet another of the infiltrating German troops.
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Whilst these last actions were taking place the Bristol had returned safely to the home aerodrome after jettisoning their remaining bombs & although the fire had gone out the aircraft was badly damaged. The remaining German Albatross seeing his new leader fall to the British fighters & now feeling the effects of his wound turned back to the safety of German Lines & with all their bombs gone the 3 other British aircraft flew back to the Hearts of Oak 'drome satisfied with a job well done & left the one remaining Stormtrooper unit to be rounded up by the British ground forces.
Comments & Observations
Well what a marathon that was!
Controlling the Air & Ground forces certainly kept the "grey matter" Active.
Thanks Carl for a really great & interesting game.
I used Zoe's Simplified Altitude rules & decided that the Scouts could not preform Immlemans until they had dropped their Bombs. I flew the Biff & all others were AI via flash's D8 charts.
I took control of the final few cards for AI bombing runs both British & German.
I though it was going to go all Ploin shaped from when the Bristol caught fire on the very first exchange of fire & all the initial bombs & Tank fire just kept on turning up ZEROS.
However once the Tanks got into the middle of the C deck things started looking up & a great results for the Allied Forces resulted.
Butchers Bill, Damage & Victory Points to be posted later in another post.
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