“Cremetti, I need a volunteer, you’re it, come on lad, get your skates on and I’ll explain on the way to the hangers”.
Lt John Kane turned on his heel and Max Cremetti was too flabbergasted to blurt out the obvious fact that the war was over – all bar the shouting. The treaty was due to be signed some time today, word was out and everyone had greeted it in different ways.
Strangely not everyone was enthusiastic, thoughts of civy street, wives, girlfriends, going back into the factory or down the pit, the old 9 to 5. Their squadron had not been at the front too long, they were lucky in that respect, C flight had taken a few knocks but everyone was alive and some were still even enjoying the adrenaline rush that being a fighter pilot brought. Of course – realistically given the choice no one in their right mind wanted to risk life and limb everyday, but even so.
Cremetti had been studying History when his King and Country needed him and he was worried about this treaty, he knew the seeds of this war were sown 40 years before due to another humiliating peace treaty and if this one was the same then who knows what the future would bring, nothing good he was sure of that.
European history was littered with wars and peace treaties and nothing seemed to be learned from the past. These were not thoughts he could express and indeed were soon gone as he raced off after his Flight Commander Lt John Kane.
“Ok all I know is they are signing the treaty today and we have received a message from the Huns that some of their pilots don’t agree with the surrender terms and are going to do something about it. Seems they have taken a loaded bomber, probably a Hanover and are intending dropping the lot on the generals signing the treaty”.
“I know what you’re thinking, the Brass don’t give a damn when the bombs are being dropped on us, for goodness sake they wont even give us parachutes in case it weakens our moral fibre, but our orders are to intercept this bomber and shoot it down. We would have done that yesterday without a thought, so this is no different”.
Cremetti was thinking it sounded like Kane was trying to convince himself more than Cremetti.
“Right then - we don’t know if this guff is true or indeed if the bomber is on its own or has support from others so we will have to assume anyone we see is hostile unless we have good reason to think otherwise”.
“I have the coordinates, it’s a Chateau in the forest near Compiegne, you know the place, we flew over it last week when that pigeon flew into your prop and you thought you were never going to get the blood out of your flying jacket. I know you were more concerned about how you were going to explain to that pretty French waitress that you hadn’t been wounded in the service of your King and Country, but had tried making pigeon pie in the cockpit of your Camel, - yes I knew you would remember the place”.
“OK Jones are these two ready to go”, “aye Sir they’re all fuelled and loaded with ammo, but surely your not going up today Sir”. “None of your damn business Jones” snapped Kane, “OK Cremetti you take the Grey one and I’ll take mine, it’ll be good to fly again after too long behind that desk”. So saying Kane clambered up into the familiar seat of the Camel, tucked his walking stick out of the way and shouted to the mechanics to swing away.
Text relating to a picture is below it.
Lt John Kane C Flight Commander, shot down in flames on his first mission has made a good recovery he still needs the walking stick to get around but sat down in the cockpit everything functions perfectly, at least that’s what he told the M.O.
2nd Lt Max Cremetti has been up in a couple of fights but neither of them has a kill and so are relative novices, but they were the nearest planes available and so had drawn the short straw.
On the other side of the lines a similar flap was going on, the pilots there were even more ambivalent about what they saw as a sell out by their Brass, which some believed showed no honour or respect for the lives of the fallen. Of course no matter what they thought, it was going to happen and even if the bomber crew were successful and made it back they would be shot as traitors, not a glorious end, and the treaty would still be signed, just by different Brass, it would achieve nothing, but some times that’s all you can achieve.
Obltn Fritz Zorn, like his opposite number John Kane was just back with the Flight having recovered from a bad wound after tangling with Kane’s lot a few weeks earlier. They had also suffered heavy losses the last time out and the only other pilot fit for service was Gunther Ehmann.
Gunther had been sat contemplating his freshly finished Fokker DVII, when Zorn shouted for him. It was a bitter sweet moment, the plane looked beautiful, he loved the bright colours it was painted and the little raven chicks along the side were his idea, although in later years someone called Gunther Buren would be credited with this artistry, sometimes life is just not fair.
Zorn thought chicks on the side of a plane was verging on sacrilegious and that the skull on his plane would put the fear of a Prussian Officer and Gentleman into to the enemy.
Athough who was the enemy now.
As the only two pilots available they had been chasing after a blue Hanover for quite a while, the Hanover had climbed to altitude before setting off on its mission of destruction, or maybe self destruction and the Fokker’s were playing catch up, trying to gain altitude at the same time as distance.
The names of the Pilot and Observer of the Hanover were never revealed.
I’ve taken a number of liberties with the scenario and am using altitude for the first time which I will cover at the end. My mat is 50” long so I had fun calculating where the planes would meet.
At this point I re-arranged the planes to fit them onto the one mat.
The Fokker DVII has gained a level in altitude to 5 and the Hanover here dives a level from 6 to 5, the target is to the right of the Camels and knowing how tricky it can be to bomb from altitude I wanted to get lower, I was driving the Hanover. The dive might have been a mistake because now we were in range and all hell let loose.
Zorn and Gunther opened fire at long range and caused some visible damage to the Hanover, but no one will know how the Observer of the Hanover felt when a lucky shot ruptured the fuel tank of Obltn Zorn’s newly painted plane and it erupted in a ball of flame.
And he went straight down, shedding bits of fabric and wood on the way.
The AA guns defending the Chateau and the dignitaries signing the treaty opened fire, ignoring the Camels in the way. The flame markers represent the shell bursts in 2 moves time and at altitude 4, which is what the Camels were flying at. Cremetti and Kane were appalled that their own guns were firing with out any regard for their safety, the only concern seemed to be the safety of the Generals.
The AI did a stall straight for all the fighters and my sideslip put the Hanover equidistant from everyone. Out of range by about 1cm, you sort of get the way this is going.
The Hanover continued to dive this turn as well and now is down at altitude 4, the Camels just miss the AA fire but I left the cards to show their moves, both side slipped, one to the right and one to the left and neatly avoided the Hanover, Gunther’s Fokker also dived and caught up with the blue plane and shots were exchanged again. The Camels were just out of angle and didn’t fire.
The Hanover Observer is deadly, a long range shot causing very little damage to Gunther’s plane but sets it on fire with one of the tracer bullets, Gunther again causes damage but one of his guns jams.
Kane and Cremetti realize the bright red German scout is not aiding the Bomber and so they don’t fire on it, Gunther has enough troubles without adding to them.
The Hanover is through the British fighter screen.
This is what he sees, the Brass have decided a train is an uncomfortable place, drafty and the seats aren’t very comfortable so they have commandeered a chateau, there are 2 AA guns defending this and they are frantically trying to reload the guns. Everyone has stopped drinking the Champagne and is contemplating the blue plane getting larger and larger.
Gunther is side slipping all over the place, trying to put out the fire but he’s also trying to un jam his gun, and get close enough for another shot. Extreme multitasking.
Kane and Cremetti are preparing to Immelmann and get into the chase but they are too far away now.
The Hanover does a stall to take a bit of speed off and set the target up perfectly (I hope). Gunther catches up a bit more distance.
He can not clear the jam in time, it’s desperate, he fires his one functional gun. The Observer fires back.
Gunther can see that he’s shot up the rudder but the Hanover is on line coming in to the target, all it has to do is fly straight and stay in the air and put the eggs on target.
The AA gunners are panicking, they know they will not fire before it’s too late.
The Hanover accelerates, Bomb gone, OK that’s it everything else doesn’t matter, they are either going to hit or not, I’m down to altitude 3 so the bombs are in the air for 2 moves, I think I’ve blown it with that last stall move, they’re not going to make it.
Gunter opens fire and the Hanover bursts into flames, but the Observers return fire damaging Gunthers engine, he’s in bad shape, but as plucky as a game Rooster.
The bombs land smack on target, there is no whooping or celebration in the Blue Bomber, they are in dire straights, they’ve probably shot down 2 comrades in arms, men they have fought alongside, shed blood with, men who know what fear is and continue to fight against it, the men below, the men who serve the guns.
They shed not a tear for the Generals, in their gold lace uniforms and their strictures about aggressive patrols over enemy territory, up and over the top of the trenches into the face of a hail of machine gun bullets, the men who maintain this doctrine regardless of the cost in men’s lives. We will wear them down! Are they mad or just insane?
The Hanover has continued to dive
The Chateau where the treaty was being signed is a ball of smoke, whoever the guy’s in the Hanover are they’re a crack team.
The AA guns had fired, but I forgot to put the markers on the table, at that point I didn’t know where the bomber would go and so turned it over to the AI.
Home to an ignominious firing squad, to the enemy and probably an ignominious firing squad, Switzerland, may be a bit far for the fuel load.
It turned to starboard and flew right over the AA shell and was blown to pieces.
There were no survivors from the Blue Hanover, although no one went missing that day.
Kane and Cremetti coming back to the action as fast as they could. The good news was that Gunther’s valiant efforts to put out the fire were successful and he made it back to the field in one piece.
SD by AA fire - No crew survived, in fact no crew were killed, no one flew that day, what Blue Hanover.
Obltn Fritz Zorn = SD(EXP), ET
C & W - Rolled 8 -3(Boom) = 5 Injured Skip 1D3 Scenarios = skip 2 scenarios
E & E – Rolled 4 -1(Boom) -1WIC -1BEL = 1Captured, but returned with honour? Nothing happened here.
Ltn Gunther Ehmann = FRTB
Lt John Kane = RTB
2nd LT Max Cremetti = RTB
The Generals.
Apologies and explanations, first to Rob for changing his scenario – this is maybe my 15th game and none have been against anyone who knows the rules, most have been solo or against Mrs V.
The last few games in the campaign have involved more and more planes and so I’ve had my hands full controlling them and so not used some of the more complex rules like altitude, so this seemed like an ideal opportunity to do so.
Not having a bomber other than 2 Seaters I thought it was going to be a bit of an uphill struggle with 1 two seater versus 4 or more scouts. So I decided to let the 2 seater have an altitude advantage that would slow down the pursuit and give them a better chance of getting closer to the target.
I may have over done this but I think if Zorn hadn’t been so unlucky to get blown up in the first exchange of gun fire it would have gone differently, the Hanover suffered 12 points of damage before the AA shell finished it.
There is some inference in my report that the two British Pilots may have had some sympathy for the Officers in the Blue Hanover, that is entirely me, these two Officers actually fought in the Great War, the one to end all wars and as far as I’m aware served with distinction in the RFC and RAF as did all my named British Pilots, they are men we should be proud of for doing what they felt was right and being prepared to make a tremendous sacrifice for that belief. Of course we should not forget that the German flyers felt exactly the same way.
Thanks to Rob for this scenario, a real political thought provoker as well as a damn good game, but especial thanks to Dave for all the hard work he puts into this and because he let me join in late in the campaign and by the way cost me a lot of money buying new planes.
I also feel I’ve met, metaphorically speaking, some very nice WOW enthusiasts and thanks for the welcoming attitude of you all.
Thanks a lot and Cheers.
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