OTT DYM Mission 11 – Hoisted by His Own Petard
The Italian Front – 29 December 1917
The original scenario, by Flying Officer Kyte, is set on the Western Front, 19 March 1916, and can be read here:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...19th-1916-Kyte
Backstory
I’ve been without a sea mat until now. I’ve played a few naval battles but these had been on a bare ping pong table top. It had been my intention to get one to fit the table (i.e., about a 9’ x 5’ mat) but, you know, money. Then along comes scenario 11 by Rob which requires a sea mat (technically one sea mat and one coastline mat) and a sand bar; and I had neither. Fortunately Meeplemart had Sails of Glory sea mats. They have fast service and I had my sea mats in 4 days. I wasn’t worried about a coastline as I could use stuff I already had. That left the sand bar whether contiguous with the mainland or as an island. I had a couple of Woodland Scenics rock molds, so this was an opportunity to create some rocky/sand pit terrain pieces with those molds. I had to work with two constraints, one was that the ‘sand pit’ had to be the specified size for the sand bar in Rob’s scenario and the other was the size limitations for terrain pieces in a some land warfare rules I use. This was that you had to be able to fit 4” x 6” rectangle inside the terrain piece and the terrain piece had to fit inside a 12” diameter circle. There would have been some slight differences if I had made the terrain only for the scenario, but I’m a lazy so-and-so which meant no special, one-time use terrain.
Errors: I made some major errors in the playing of the scenario which happily enough didn’t change the outcome. I will note these errors as I go through the story.
Note on the terrain. The rocky island and the mainland are at level 1 with respect to the sea surface. Planes need to be at level 2 or higher if over these areas, otherwise they crash.
The Story
“Two no trump!”
“You rascal, Günter. You have all the luck”, sighed Wolfgang.
Wolfgang really didn’t mind that much. He was actually overjoyed to have his wingman back from convalescence –with good luck or back luck at cards. He reflected on how scandalous it would have been before the war to have two enlisted men, Günter and Sandy, in the officer’s mess. In war the brotherhood of warriors of the sky trumps social class. At least it did in some of the more progressive Fliks and is was in many of the German Jastas and Flik 55J Bis, following the lead of its mentor Flik 55J, was one of the most progressive in the KuK.
Just then the duty officer, Oberleutnant Karl Klimt burst in.
“Wolfgang, the boss want to see you.”
When Wolfgang hesitated tossing in the cards, Karl added, “That would be NOW!”
Wolfgang got up and winked at his opponents, Günter and Ryan, “sorry for reneging on the hand, but it’s to your advantage as you’d have a terrible time making that contract.”
Moments later Wolgang and Karl where in the Hauptmann’s office where two of the feldwebels, Friedrich Steinbrecher and Josef Hauser, from Karl’s observation detachment were already waiting.
“Gentlemen, it would seem the Italians where doing some experimental work off the Dalmatian coast when they had an accident with what was probably a mine. A SOS radio signal was picked up by our intelligence. Observers on the mainland have spotted two survivors, technical workers, on some rocks just off a very rugged section of the coastline. We can’t risk any large ships with the enemy’s naval superiority. Even a small boat in daylight would be in danger. High Command wants those technical workers captured before the enemy rescues them. Our observers have reported that there’s a sand bar between the rocks that’s just large enough for an aeroplane to land but we must hurry as it is below water at high tide. The two feldwebels here will pilot a couple of the Rumplers and, Wolfgang will fly escort. You have your mission.”
“Why not the naval air service?”, queried Wolfgang.
“There’s a lot of enemy activity in the vicinity of the naval air station at the moment. Any rescue attempt would be detected at once and intercepted. By flying behind our lines and coming out over the Adriatic near the sand bar, we hope the enemy will have no time to react.”
“Sir”, Friedrich spoke up, “how will we convince the Italian technical workers to become our guests?”
“Gentlemen,” shouted the Hauptmann.
Two infantrymen entered the room.
“We have here two volunteers from Infanterieregiment 4, Hoch und Deutchmeister. They will be your passengers on a one-way flight to the sand bar. They will encourage our Italian friends to be cooperative. They will stay there until a small boat picks them up at night. Much success, gentlemen.”
The two Rumplers were approaching the sand bar. Wolfgang, in his Oeffag, was to the right and above providing overwatch. Friedrich would land first. Josef would fly a holding pattern until after Friedrich took off with his ‘passenger’.
By pure coincidence, two Italian Pomilios escorted by a French SPAD approach from the opposite direction. Apparently with the same idea – well, without the infantrymen as it is assumed the Italian scientist and technician that were stranded on the sand bar would not no such encouragement to board the Pomilios.
Wolfgang peeled off from the Rumplers to intercept the enemy scout while Friedrich’s aeroplane touched down on end of the sand bar. Slightly further away one of the Pomilios lined up to land on the sand bar.
The two escorts exchanged fire to no effect whatsoever. As the Rumpler made its way down the sand bar, Friedrich and his infantryman passenger flinched. The crazy Italian was bringing his Pomilio in as well. Just inches to spare but both the aeroplanes were down safely. Friedrich and the infantryman let out a sigh of relief, which the Italian pilot merely shook his fist them as he passed over head to land just behind them.
[Mistake 1: I lost 2 critical photographs for the next bit.] As the Pomilio neared the end of the sand bar, the scientist ran towards it; hoping in the observer’s seat as Lovato turned the aeroplane around for an immediate take off. On the other end of the sand bar the infantryman had jumped out and was running towards the Italian technicians when the Pomilio prepared for takeoff. Torn between rounding up the remaining technical worker and firing at the Pomilio, the infantryman chose the latter course of action but his shot went wide. (Not much else happened otherwise – Wolfgang missed a deflection shot at the other Pomilio but that was par for the course.)
Patiently waiting for the infantryman to round up one of the technical workers, Friedrich noted with alarm the fast approaching Pomilio. With naught else to do he opened fire. The infantryman continued his firing. As crazy as it was, the Italian returned fire at the Rumpler. The infantryman looked on with horror as an enormous explosion engulfed the Rumpler.
Lovato’s Pomilio just cleared the wreckage of the Rumpler as infantryman continued his wild firing.
Lovato was greeted warmly by Wolfgang and returned fire somewhat ineffectually. [Mistake 2: I should have drawn 2 cards for Lovato but only noticed afterwards. I drew a B card which was a ‘0’.] Coming in just as Lovato took off, Josef landed his Rumpler. At the other end of the sand bar Giovanni sideslipped in just behind Lovato but a shot from the infantryman found an oil line and smoke blinded Giovanni’s face – an ominous sign when landing, no?
Following the lead of his comrade in arms, Giovanni managed to come in just over the Rumpler. [Mistake 3: Lovato should not have turned left due to the critical damage from the infantryman. Mistake 4: Why in the world did I have Lovato not return the way he came in. For some reason I got turned around and had the Entente planes fly off where the Central Powers came in and vice versa. Sigh.]
The smoke from Giovanni’s Pomilio was thicker – blinding the Italian.
*SPLASH* Not surprising when landing blind with VFR equipment. Giovanni clung to the wreck of his floating Pomilio. Josef was more fortunately as he avoided the wreckage of his comrade’s Rumpler. His infantryman passenger jumped out and waved at his partner.
[Mistake 5: Another missing photo but nothing much happened. However, it messed up my counting of the turns as I was using the photos to keep track. Missing 3 photos by this time I was out by one turn. This should have been the last turn for the scouts, but due to the mistake they hung around a turn longer.] Not much for the following phase. With two infantryman to encourage him, the Italian technician has boarded Josef’s Rumpler and Josef starts his takeoff run. Wolfgang misjudges his turn and ends up slightly ahead of the slower Pomilio. Side by side, the two pilots wave at each other. The scientist thinks both are crazy.
Josef lifts off safely.
Pleasantries aside, Wolfgang gives Lovato a farewell salute with an ineffectual burst – well, not quite ineffectual as it did jam his schwarlose.
With fuel low and his machineguns jammed, Wolfgang headed for home. He just needed to avoid the enemy SPAD. No problem – a sideslip to the left and under the SPAD and all is good. Of course, Boom-Boom low on fuel also headed for home. On the sand bar, the infantrymen pulled an injured Friedrich from the wreckage of the Rumpler and then hauled in the sodden Giovanni. Later that night a launch picked up all four castaways.
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