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Thread: OTT CYM Mission 3 - The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence - July 19th 1916 by Mike

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    Default OTT CYM Mission 3 - The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence - July 19th 1916 by Mike

    OTT CYM Mission 3 – The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence – July 19th 1916
    AAR by Mike


    It is the 19th of July 1916 and the Battle of Fromelles, part of the larger Battle of the Somme, will start later in the day.

    The sacrifice of young men and women, by all nations involved in this conflict, was enormous. Yesterday and the day before it may have been the turn of Britain, France, Germany or Italy, or one of the many loyal allies who fought on one side or the other, in the various and many theatres of the play. Tomorrow and the next day the slaughter would continue and the death toll and grief mount up around the world.
    Today however, it would be the turn of the Bavarians in their trenches on top of Aubers Ridge and the British and Australians, especially the Australians, who would be required to make that sacrifice - a dash over open ground, in daylight, towards a slope that had overlooked their positions for months and yielded all their secrets, so that the defenders could mount a deadly defence. And for what? To pin down the Germans and prevent them reinforcing their comrades further to the south. Someone was responsible for a very unintelligent decision, so far as the troops who would go through with this were concerned. But that raises questions, the answers to which must lie elsewhere.

    For the moment, early in the morning, all that was yet to come. The weather for the past few days had been wet and overcast, delaying both the attack on the ground and any support work from the air.

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    But today, the weather had cleared. The artillery zero hour was fixed for 11:00 a.m., ready for the attack at 6:00 p.m., so there was still time for the RFC to gather more information or destroy more German targets which might make a difference and GHQ was in a flap about the suspected existence of enemy ammunition dumps.

    Which is why orders had come down the line for the Bulldogs to go and fetch some reconnaisance photos, of the suspicious locations, and if anything of value were discovered, to bomb it to hell. Lt Mick Taker had discussed the options with his fellow officers, and decided to risk just one of their precious two seaters, accompanied by an escort of three scouts. The remaining two seaters would be loaded with bombs to destroy any ammunition dumps actually revealed by the reconnaisance. They would be ready at a moments notice, just as soon as the reconnaissance flight returned and before the planned ground attack went ahead.

    “OK, so that’s myself, Simon and Bo in the DH2’s, with John piloting the Fee and Graham as his observer! Perfect” said Lt Mick E Taker.

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    “Agreed.” added uncle, puffing away on his pipe, as always “and that’ll leave Charlie as a reserve for the scouts and Harold, William, Eric and Walter available to carry out the bombing. I should add that GHQ are rather stomping about their patch over this, so anyone who survives the initial reconnaissance will also have to join the bombing raid. Are you clear on that Mick?”
    “Yes Uncle, very clear!”
    “Off you go then, and good luck. Get those photos back here as quickly as you can!”

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    So, Lt Mick Taker, with his two wingmen, 2nd Lts Simon Hawker and Bo Fletcher, lifted off into a chill morning air and headed for a light covering of cloud, where they were awaited by 2nd Lt John Palin and his observer AM3 Graham Jones, circling patiently in their Fee. Visibility beyond the clouds was good and everything below looked so peaceful.

    However, behind enemy lines, watchfully patrolling the suspicious locations in question, were a couple of enemy scouts, also with that peaceful view.

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    ObLtn Josef Jacob made gentle adjustments to the circular route of his Fokker DII and searched the horizons. The two ammunition dumps, hidded beneath him must be protected “at all cost”. Why was it always “at all cost” he thought to himself, and he looked to his right to check the presence of his wing man, Ltn Gerhard Keudell. The sun reflected brightly, off the clear doped linen of Keudell’s Fokker DI, as a reassuring white glow, which dimmed as Keudell banked towards the east, whilst Jacob turned his own Fokker to the west.

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    But then his mind came sharply into focus as beyond Keudell’s Fokker he caught sight of something far less welcome. Three, no four, aircraft, flying towards him from the west. They could only be the enemy. Almost at the same time a warning flare rose gracefully from the ground. The alarm was being raised by an AA gun crew.

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    “Gut, Gott sei Dank dafür ” thought Jacob, because that meant his ground support was on the ball.

    Back with the RFC flight, Mick Taker waggled the wings of his CDL DH2, but it was really unnecessary as everyone in the rest of the flight couldn’t have failed to see the flare go up.

    Just the same, Graham Jones, on Taker’s port side, waved acknowledgement from his observers cockpit in the Fee. And looking beyond the rumbling FE2b, Taker could see that Hawker was still on station, a little behind and slightly above the Fee. His role was to watch for any enemy coming from the north, but to pitch in and defend the Fee if there was any trouble about. It looked more than likely that would be the case now, but what else was about and where would it arrive from?

    In fact it was Fletcher, who spotted the German reinforcements. As Taker stretched around to his right to see if Fletcher was still where he was supposed to be, he saw him also waggle his wings and point meaningfully away to the south where a couple more enemy aircraft could be seen, joining the two that were circling the target location. Two Halberstadt DIIIs by the looks of them. Ltns Theodor Ehmann (below left) and Hans Leptien (below right) had both been alerted to the possibility of an attack, by the flare and were now making haste to the scene from the south.

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    As they did, the British flight of three DH2s and a Fee rapidly closed the gap between themselves and the four possible target areas. And the first of two AA guns opened up in what was to eventually prove to be one of the most innaccurate barrages of anti aircraft fire our Bulldog friends had ever experienced. Nice! Considering the bashing they’d received from flak on earlier missions.

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    Jacob, who was the closest to this enemy, was first to attempt to interrupt the Bulldogs operations. But he bit off rather more than he could chew. Two Bulldogs, Taker and Fletcher, saw him approaching and banked sharply to their starboard, before all three pilots had a beligerant “natter natter natter” with their respective machine guns. Fletcher immediately saw black smoke streaming from somewhere on his DH2 but it didn’t appear to be very serious, so far, so he ignored it. Rather less fortunate was ObLtn Jacob in his Fokker DII. He was badly mauled by these two Bulldogs and fire broke out on his machine - “Scheiße, nicht schon wieder ” was his reaction!

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    Hawker too now banked right, towards the oncoming threat, whilst, in the Fee, Palin dropped down a few hundred feet and plodded on towards his first target location, allowing Graham Jones to obtain his first clear photo opportunity, which he took very calmly.

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    This was the moment when the scout pilots of both sides decided it would be a great idea to huddle together and sort out their differences in the time honoured way, by attempting to slaughter one another.
    So, whilst Jacob, Taker and Fletcher had a second go at one another; with Jacob coming off distinctly unfavourably, from his point of view; and leaving Palin and Jones to quietly get on with the business of sightseeing and taking nice snaps of the scenery, the remaining party goers headed for a spot, more or less in the middle of the playground, and proceeded to try and bash hell out of one another.

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    Whilst it can be stated that the RFC definitely got the better of this one, never-the-less Fletcher was pretty annoyed that his was the only gun, out of the lot, that decided to jam. “Damn”.

    Jacob had to slink off for a short while, since his Fokker was on fire and he needed time to put the damned fire out, if he could! But the Bulldog, Hawker, finally managed to join in the fun too and exchanged the usual greetings with Keudel, in the Fokker DI, both hitting the other, but without doing any disastrous amounts of damage (one all, as the footballing fraternity would put it).

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    And Palin, keeping his nose clean, whilst avoiding the AA flak, enabled Jones to get his second good photograph of this highly suspicious area.

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    A slight lull in the proceedings followed, whilst most of the protaganists took themselves off for a reloading break, or a tea break, or whatever other type of break one can take in the middle of a dog fight. Except for the late arrival, Hawker, in his DH2, who, having enjoyed his opening shot, was delighted to take a second, freebe, against the CDL Halberstadt flown by Hans Leptien, at close range too. Further more, his joy was compounded when Keudell, in the CDL Fokker, flipped an Immelmann, opened up at long range on his tail, and missed! To add insult to injury, for Keudel that is, the latters gun jammed. All Hawker could do was grin, very broadly.

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    Keudel was furious, of course, even more so because, as a result of his gun jam, he missed a perfect head on opportunity on the CDL DH2 of Taker. Taker, on the other hand, didn’t miss the same opportunity and let Keudel have it. Daka, daka, daka, daka and next thing you know, the engine of the Fokker is rattling around like a loose ballbearing in a tin can. “Es ist Zeit für Herrn Keudel, nach Hause zu fahren!“ says he to himself.

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    And ObLtn Josef Jacob continued to twist and turn, in this case successfully, as the fire appeared to be coming under control, at last.

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    Then disaster struck the Germans. You will recall that not only does Ltn Gerhard Keudel, in his CDL Fokker DI, have a gun jam, he is also attempting to head home because of a seriously damaged engine. Which is why he never stood a chance when set upon, similtaneously, by the DH2s of Hawker, who had managed to turn about, and his flight leader Lt Mick E Taker. Bullet holes appeared everywhere and “Boom” went something vital. To his dismay, Herr Keudell found himself heading in a general downward and therefore undesireable direction. Taker claimed that one.

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    So, now is the time to return to a more general overview of things. With one of their number down, the German flight is currently outnumbered, especially since ObLtn Jacob is still way off to the west, attempting to put the fire out on his precious Fokker DII. Which left the two Halberstadt DIIIs of Leptien and Ehmann to protect the location against three RFC owned DH2s and a Fee, the latter of which had, thus far, successfully taken two out of a required four photographs of the area. In addition to which, the German AA guns continued a miserable spell of shooting, in which they hit nothing at all!

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    Add this information to the fact that the shooting by the German scout pilots is now going to pot, plus the fire on ObLtn Jacob’s Fokker suddenly flared up again, with further disastrous consequences, i.e. it fell to the earth in flames, and you will understand why Kaiser Wilhelm II would “not be pleased” if only he knew about it. (Kill number 2 to Taker)

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    Not that the British pilots’ aim was any better. It too was pretty dire. But the real success here lies with Palin and Jones, who are quietly going about their business, unmolested by anything other that ineffective AA fire and successfully gathering all the pictures they want. Numbers three and four have just been taken. Obviously the Bulldog scouts are doing a brilliant job, bad shooting or no bad shooting, keeping the hun away from the Fee!

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    It was time for the RFC flight to head home again. Photographs had been taken and they were requred as a matter of urgency, by GHQ. However, there was still the small matter of a couple of Halberstadts flitting from target to target, like hover flies around the lobelia.

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    Plus the AA guns, still creating their black blooms to decorate the sky. Another miss you will note!

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    Close, but not close enough! And now the German scouts were outnumbered two to one, their pilots still shooting badly and being reasonably plastered with lead in return. Next thing you know, both Theodor Ehmann and Hans leptien are wounded and this part of the mission really is all but over.

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    Ehmann isn’t so badly wounded, but his beloved brown Halberstadt has been severely knocked about at this stage of the proceedings (12/14 damage), so being the sensible lad that he is, he decided to land what remained of his aircraft, down by the anti aircraft crew. “He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day”. He’d take that for the truth any time!

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    As for Hans Leptien, in the CDL Halberstadt, his problem was even greater. Quite badly injured, with a serious wound to his shoulder, his aircraft was even more shot full of holes than his colleagues aircraft (13/14 damage). He was desperate to extract himself from the fight and get home safely.

    And the bloody AA guns were not helping in the least!

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    This lot couldn’t hit a barn door two metres in front of them! Not that Mick E Taker was complaining.

    So Leptien tried to dodge past the Fee, whilst Ehmann successfully landed on the ground, without tipping into the canal directly to his front; although he took a few leaves with him as he slid between the poplars by the road.

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    Leaving a couple of frustrated DH2 pilots circling around, just above the range of small arms fire and not stupid enough to endanger their mission just to finish Ehmann off.

    So, the final act in this two part drama was left to the unfortunate Ltn Hans Leptien and the lucky Graham Jones, who stood precariously on the edge of his cockpit, with the wind whipping at his legs and threatening to carry him to his doom. Only to take a long range pot at the Halberstadt over the top of the Fee’s wings.
    “Bingo” he cried, as the little yellow peril flipped over and nose dived towards pastures green below. “Got the blighter”. (Kill to AM3 Jones)

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    And that was that, for the time being. The entire flight of Bulldogs headed for the clouds, west and home, carrying their precious cargo of reconnaisance photographs – much good may they do anyone.

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    Part one of the mission successfully completed. But Uncle was pacing the eight by ten feet of his so called office, puffing furiously on his pipe and creating as much smoke as Thomas the Tank Engine (OK, not written until 1946, but hey ho) going up hill, anxious to hear the returning engines of Taker’s flight and to continue with the rest of the days orders as quickly as possible – there is more to come!

    To be continued …….…..
    Last edited by flash; 06-09-2020 at 01:23. Reason: Title adjust

  2. #2

    Default

    OTT CYM Mission 3 – The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence – July 19th 1916
    AAR (part 2 The bombing raid) by Mike


    The unmistakeable sound of a Fee and three DH2s, approaching the airfield, came as both a delight and a relief to the ears of Uncle as he stood on the grass outside his hut and puffed away nervously on his favourite pipe. As always, the aromatic aroma of his tobacco overpowered the smells of oil, aviation fuel, ammunition and human detritous, at least for a short distance around his person and his mind was already working through the details required to set his Bulldogs off on the second half of their days work.

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    But first he had to know if the crew of the Fee had managed to get any useful photographs from their early morning sortie across the lines and if so, how soon it would be before they could assess, then use, the information gleaned from them.

    As Lt Mick E Taker came into land his totally undamaged DH2, Uncle strode purposefully to where Mick would park his bus and his posture was a clear indication that he was in a hurry.

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    As soon as he could, therefore, Mick clambered from his cockpit, waving to the crew of the Fee, that had also landed nearby, to join him. Together they gathered around Uncle and gave him the good news. Nobody was lost, nobody was injured, the buses were all still serviceable and what was most important of all, they had plenty of photographs for the boffin to examine.

    “ Good. Get them over to that hut immediately.” He said, waving in the general area behind him, but they understood.
    “Then get yourselves something to eat and drink, get some rest and be ready to go out again as soon as the results are known. Which won’t be long, so get your skates on lads!”

    So the photos were delivered to the hut and the “Boffin” started work on them forthwith.

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    Sure enough, although none of the Bulldogs quite understood how, the Boffin was able to identify, from those photographs, two definite locations for likely ammunition dumps.

    “Blow those damn things up lads!” announced Uncle at the following briefing. “Just keep in mind that it could save the lives of a lot of our blokes later today.”
    It was already 11.00 am. Time to get a shifty on. So off they went again, disappearing into the bright blue yonder, watched as they crossed the sky, with only vague interest, by a handful of folk still on the ground, who merely wondered where they might be off to.

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    And if, dear reader, you thought that the bombing force was the same as the reconnaisance force, well you are wrong. Take a closer look. The Bulldogs meant business and had chucked everything into the air that they had available.
    Three Fee’s, escorted by no less than four DH2s. And heaven help the squadron if they messed up!

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    Leading the attack from the left flank Fee (blue dot) was Lt Harold Isore, with his now long standing observer, AM1 William Conker; escorted to his left by F/Sgt Charles Drake in a DH2 (green dot) and on his right by 2Lt Bo Fletcher (DH2 red dot) whose bus had been hastly patched up after the mornings exploits.

    Over on the left flank, 2nd Lt John Palin was back in the cockpit of his Fee (red dot) with his observer of that morning, AM3 Graham Jones. His DH2 escorts were flown by Lt Mick Taker (cdl with yellow dot) and out on the extreme right flank, 2nd Lt Simon Hawker, also with his machine rapidly repaired, kind of! (blue dot). That left the third Fee to bring up the rear, in between the left and right flights. It was crewed by 2nd Lt Eric Gilliam with his observer, AM2 Walter Lewis.

    What a determined bunch they were too!

    As they approached the target locations, so they could see that the Germans had put up the same defense as they’d had that morning. Which didn’t seem very imaginative, nor was it at all adequate, even allowing for the AA guns (which everyone was hoping would be just as bad as earlier). The one big difference was the absence of the same supporting reinforcements. There was only one of those to be seen, although on closer inspection, all three enemy aircraft were Halberstadts DIIIs. The Bulldogs believed that more than likely their opponents were very short of aircraft or pilots or both. Perhaps most of them had already gone south. That wasn’t so good!

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    However, from their own point of view, the lack of opposition was a God send. Everything appeared to look very straight forward. Until, that is, Isore and his escorts, over on the left, suddenly decided to turn right towards everybody else! Why the hell he did that was anybodies guess, even his own I would think. Perhaps he got distracted, or perhaps he thought his bombing target was not straight ahead of him, or perhaps he’d had an accident and the joy stick had been knocked sideways. Whatever the reason, it was going to cause mayhem.

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    Then, up went a flare, just like during the mornings reconnaisance mission.

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    So whist Isore is doing his best to wreck the party, causing Gilliam to pronounce him a ditch born son of a whore who would no longer be on his Christmas card list, after almost causing a collision between themselves, let me introduce you to the opposition.

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    First on the scene to react to this invasion of their privacy, was Ltn Friedrich Collin, flying a CDL Halberstadt DIII. Originally ordered to patrol the area on a circular route, he was partnered in this role by Lt Eric Wedel. His Halberstadt was camouflaged in brown and green. And last, but by no means least, came the sole reinforcement – flying a brown machine, ObLtn Gisbert Habich. And that’s it! Apart from the usual flak which opened up immediately creating a nice puff of black smoke just above and to the right of Palin’s Fee. No damage at all!

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    Palin, however, took no notice, because just then one of the enemy scouts flew right across his line of fire, from right to left and he was too busy trying to see whether or not his observer’s aim was good, when Jones immediately opened fire at long range. Then Jones turned about and shouted -

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    “Have to let him go, sir! Target coming up and I’ll have to focus on that instead”. Words all wasted of course, because Palin couldn’t hear a word of it. But the arm waving was enough for him to recognise what Jones meant and he gave him a thumbs up. Jones stuck out his right arm and indicated he wanted the Fee more in that direction. Palin obliged, then felt the Fee lift upwards as the weight of the bomb load disappeared below.

    So whilst Taker, in the DH2 on his left, took up the attack on the Halberstadt, Jones leant precariously over the side, in an attempt to observe the fall of the merchandise,

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    blissfully unaware of the near drama unfolding between the remaining two Fees. Isore had finally got his act together, just in time to avoid a destructive collision with Gilliam, who continued with his expletive deletives concerning Isores parentage. Where he had managed to aquire such a varied and colourful vocabulary was a mystery to his observer, who could actually hear it. The volume of Gilliam’s cursing was turned up to maximum. Of course, Isore then turned back left again, only to head for his own escort, who luckily was somewhat above him by this time!

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    And the CDL Halberstadt continued on its chicken run across the sites of almost the entire Bulldog flight. But except for a little nick in his arm and a few minor holes in the fabric of his wings, oh and a temporary hiccup involving his rudder, he came off extremely lightly. As did Isore in his Fee, now back on track, when another AA gun fired, and missed, of course!

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    Then the bomb load, previously dropped by Palin and Jones, landed with a CRUMP. As near a direct hit as they could wish for. And up went the ammunition! One down one to go, but Palin could turn about and get out of there, his job well done.

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    Now it was the turn of the target on the other, north, side. All the remaining combatents seemed to be heading there too. Bullets were flying in all directions and there was a great deal of aggressive machine gun noise and AA gun fire – with absolutely no results at all. The shooting was dire!

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    The two sides might just as well have waved pleasantly to one another as the opposing flights managed to pass in opposite directions without even a collision to boast about!

    Then it was the turn of Isore to make his bombing run, with his observer, Willian Conker, waving frantically, first this way and then that, but also to no effect. The bombs were released, the Fee jumped up several feet with joy, but when Conker looked over the side he could clearly see that they had missed.

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    Well not completely, actually, but almost. A partial hit would be claimed! But later, both Isore and Conker would report that although they had missed most of the target, it was because they had been distracted by the anti aircraft flak that had come very close, just as they were going to release the bombs. Yes, OK guys!

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    Meanwhile, elsewhere a kind of quiet patch had ensued. A couple of the Halberstadts were entertaining Palin over to the south, whilst the latter was trying to head off home.

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    Then Gilliam attempted to bomb the second target with the last remaining bomb load, and he completely missed, by a long way! And the German AA guns continued to fire away like they were trying to win a teddy bear at a fairground shoot and failing miserably. I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the AA gun crews down there. I reckon they are in for a real roasting later

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    And there, you might have thought, it was a good moment for the Bulldogs just to turn around and go home. The Halberstadts could have done the same and everyone would have been happy. But no, of course not. Now there was nothing better to do than try and kill one another in a dog fight. Do the hero thing and all that! Although the odds of seven to three did not favour the home side as you will have noted!

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    So the AA guns continued to fire, with the same results.

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    Whilst Gisbert Habich got caught in a crossfire between Fletcher and the dodging and weaving Palin in his Fee. He received considerable damage to his scout as a result, dealing little damage to Fletcher’s DH2 in return and jamming his gun into the bargain, just to exasperate him further.
    Ltn Friedrich Collin did manage to damage the rudder on Palin’s Fee, but that was affecting his ability to turn right, at a time when really he only intended to go left!

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    And the situation may have remained as a kind of stalemate, with the AA guns missing for the umpteenth time, had it not been for a turn of fate, probably bought about by the Gods of war. 2nd Lt Bo Fletcher finally managed to actually hit something. He hit Collin’s CDL Halberstadt in fact and to Collin’s dismay, fire broke out. His worst nightmare. Bad luck that was!

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    Then the numbers began to tell. With his own gun jammed, Gisbert Habich ran into trouble again, this time with Gilliam in another of the Fee’s. And although Collin was managing to keep the fire on his CDL Halberstadt under control, he couldn’t avoid the bullets of Fletcher’s machine gun. A second fire took hold and smoke began to pour from his engine. Things for Collin were becoming desperate! He returned fire, but the problems continued to mount when his gun jammed. The situation for the German pilots was dire and all they could hope for now, was to be able to extract themselves from the fight whilst hanging on grimly to their precious lives!

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    But their chances were rapidly deteriorating. First, as AM2 Walter Lewis virtually destroyed the ailing Halberstadt flown by Gisbert Habich, with some really accurate shooting, from his forward position in the Fee flown by Gilliam, sending the brown bird spinning uncontrollably earthwards.

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    Then, the CDL halberstadt finally succumbed to the fire that Collin just could not extinguish. He tried so hard, weaving around the RFC pilots, who showed no mercy and less shooting skill. He avoided all of their machine gun bullets, but the flames, possibly fanned by his need to dodge and weave so much, finally caused his downfall. It was 2nd Lt Bo Fletcher who had started the fire, so he who would be able to claim the “kill”.

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    Then this fight really was over. Overall, it had been a really bad day for the German pilots. Ltn Eric Wedel took the hint and headed east and home, with a heavy heart, but the hope that his peers had survived their ordeals. At least they would have come down in friendly territory.

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    Meanwhile, pretty exhausted from their experience, the successful RFC pilots and observers finally turned west and they too headed for home, leaving the ammunition dumps either destroyed or damaged. Whether or not that would make a difference to the troops shortly to be engaged in the Battle of Fromelles, only time would tell. History would examine the evidence in hindsight and many a judgement made, but the Bulldogs were not concerned with that. They just wanted a cup of tea, something to eat and a bit of a nap, before tomorrows orders arrived.


    The End.





    Butcher’s Bill
    Part one of the mission

    Central Powers

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    Obltn Josef Jacob / FLM FT / 0 kills
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    Result – KIA

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    Ltn Gerhard Keudell / EXP FT / 0 kills
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    Result – Skip 2 scenarios

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    Ltn Theodor Ehmann / Forced landing / WIA / 0 kills
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    Result – All good
    * Please note – although Ehmann chose to land, rather than be shot down, he would have been able to return to base at a later part of the day. But being wounded he could not participate in part two of this mission.


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    Ltn Hans Leptien / SD FT / WIA / 0 kills
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    Result – Skip 2 scenarios

    Entente

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    Lt Mick E Taker / RTB / 2 kills
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt Simon Hawker / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt Bo Fletcher / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt John Palin / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    AM3 Graham Jones / RTB / 1 kill + four photographs
    Result – All good

    Part two of the mission

    Central Powers

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    Ltn Friedrich Collin / FLM FT / WIA / 0 kills
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    Result – KIA

    Ltn Eric Wedel / RTB / 0 kills
    Result - All good

    Obltn Gisbert Habich / SD FT / 0 kills
    Roll 2D6 = 7 – 1 SD = 6 – Injured Skip 1D3 (Roll 1D6 = 3) – skip 2 scenarios
    Result – Skip 2 scenarios

    Entente

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    Above photo includes the damage cards carried forward from part one of this mission.

    Lt Mick E Taker / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt Simon Hawker / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt Bo Fletcher / RTB / 1 kills
    Result – All good

    F/Sgt Charles Drake / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

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    2nd Lt John Palin / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    AM3 Graham Jones / RTB / 0 kills – 1 target bombed with direct hit
    Result – All good

    2nd Lt Eric Gilliam / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    AM2 Walter Lewis / RTB / 1 kill
    Result – All good

    Lt Harold Isore / RTB / 0 kills
    Result – All good

    AM1 William Conker
    / 0 kills – 1 target bombed with a partial hit
    Result – All good

    Victory points

    Entente : +5 Enemy aircraft shot down (5); +4 (photos); +10 (depot destroyed) +5 (depot partially hit)
    Total = 24 points
    Result – Clear Victory for the Entente
    Last edited by flash; 06-09-2020 at 06:05. Reason: Tally correction

  3. #3

    Thumbs up

    Great result Mike! Well flown mate.
    Strangely my game played today had a lot of similarities to yours as far as Flames & Booms went.
    Wonderful photos & Terrain as usual & a story well told so have some Rep for your efforts!

  4. #4

    Default

    Nice one Mike, the Eagles were plucked, stuffed and roasted this time out - the boys did well running interference & the Fee never seemed to be in any danger - Jones even sneaking a couple of cheeky passing shots and bagging a kill to boot.

    Second verse same as the first... A veritable tidal wave of PC.10 & cdl roaring across the battlefield - a fart of Bulldogs !! (the collective noun apparently!)

    Uncle says:

    Well done chaps ! looks like we need a bit of work on our bombing skills but there's no trouble with the shooting once the guns have warmed up ! Right, time for a beer or three, you certainly earned it.

    Ltn Hans Leptien as top scorer for the Eagles will be promoted to Oberleutnant and assume command once he returns from injury.

    Ltn Theodor Ehmann / RTB* / WIA / 0 kills
    Roll 2D6 = 11 – 1 WIA = 10 All good.
    Result – All good
    * Please note – although Ehmann chose to land, rather than be shot down, he would have been able to return to base at a later part of the day. But being wounded he could not participate in part two of this mission.

    'Forced' Landings:
    If your machine has been badly mauled & FRTB but it's unlikely you can escape the table you have the option of a forced landing:
    As your machine has health points you are making a 'controlled landing'. ie it's not shot down, you can put it down without any kind of modifiers other than NML/SEA; night landing (-1) which would force a crash roll.
    If you are behind enemy lines just have to roll for E&E with the standard mods for BEL, NML/SEA or WIA - and count the machine as a kill to the opposition.
    RTB is different as you're landing on an approved strip with support of staff to help so it has a positive modifier, landing elsewhere is effectively a zero, ie no modifier - Tally corrected though no final difference in this case.
    Last edited by flash; 06-09-2020 at 06:06.

    "He is wise who watches"

  5. #5

    Default

    a textbook example of how an AA should look and read, hat off to you Mike .... and REP of course
    cheers,
    Guus

    ps:
    was this a solo game ??
    Last edited by Aardvark1430; 06-07-2020 at 03:24.
    "zet 'm op ... witte muizen !" (strijdkreet van 1e JaVa, Luchtvaart Afdeling, Nederland 1940)
    "let's go get them ... white mice !" (battlecry of the 1st Fighter Group, Army Air Force, Netherlands 1940)

  6. #6

    Default

    Many thanks guys. Very kind indeed, especially as technically I still haven't quite completed the mission Part two is almost full written up now, and I hope to finish tomorrow.

    Yes Guus, this was a solo mission, as all of the missions are on this OTT (Over the Trenches) thread. There are quite a few of us who have been involved in this and the previous three or four parts of the OTT campaign. I joined in about November 1917 during "The Bitter End". Since then we have played early war missions under the heading "Daring Young Men" and now this "Cocky Young men". And everyone plays the missions solo. You should give it a whirl one day. But check with David "flash" first. Its his campaign and he very kindly does all the administrative donkey work for us. All the campaign rules and AARs for past missions, by all players, are on the thread somewhere, so if you want ideas for scenarios, or just want to read some of the AARs during this "lockdown" period, then go ahead and enjoy. Players put a lot of effort into them
    Take care now,
    Mike

  7. #7

    Default

    I enjoyed this AAR very much . Beautifull scenery and great photographs!
    groetjes, Lex

  8. #8

  9. #9

    Default

    Well that completes a very fine mission - thanks to Paul "ShadowDragon". A good example of when things go wrong, they tend to go very badly wrong, as the Eagles in my camp found out to their cost. They really had a very very bad day, even when it came to the dice throws for the Butcher's Bill. I've lost two more German pilots and am very sad to see them go Hats off to Obltn Josef Jacob and Ltn Friedrich Collin - RIP lads.

    I don't think I have ever known the AA fire to be so ineffective either. I promise you, I gritted my teeth every time I drew another "A" damage card from the deck. But nothing happened, not even when they did score a hit - then the "C" damage came up 0 too.

    So I guess my RFC guys are going to get a real pounding in the next mission. Their luck just cannot hold - it never does.

    Once again, thanks to Paul - a really good mission buddy!

  10. #10

    Default

    A simply marvellous game all round, Mike. Well flown, great results for the dogs, great scenery, great photos (loved the one of them coming returning from the first mission), great extra pics too. Will cycle back for a 2nd round of rep.

    Impressive squadron assault pics too. Must have been a few loose bowels among the eagle pilots when they saw that, but they were brave enough though.

    to the lost eagles.

  11. #11

    Default

    Cheers Paul. I know you expressed doubts at the outset, but personally I thought this was an excellent mission (OK possibly two missions, but what the heck )

  12. #12

    Default


    If it wasn't for bad luck, the Eagles would have had no luck at all!

    What a pasting!


    Great photos and narrative. Like Paul I especially liked the first pic of Part 2.


    Sorry to see Ltn Collin suffer the final curtain after all that effort.


    I must say the German AA definitely needs to take some instruction from the chaps I faced in my version of this mission ....

    And finally - 7 in the air at once was quite an impressive strike.
    Pretty sure I heard The Ride of the Valkyries playing.

  13. #13

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    Cheers Paul. I know you expressed doubts at the outset, but personally I thought this was an excellent mission (OK possibly two missions, but what the heck )
    Indeed, what the heck! My only regret was in not providing a half-pint version. I realized the problem when I thought about converting the mission to my (now) post-WWI Balkans campaign. Too many planes. I haven't done that version yet. I will tonight. There will be just 2 scouts and 2 tandems available for the friendly side, 3 scouts for the other side, no AA guns and just 2 targets, one of which will be the real one.

    The delay is because I had to get my head around the storyline and because I've been off doing other things. Haven't looked at Pete's scenario yet.

  14. #14

    Default

    Thanks again guys. Well, now I'm really looking forward to sitting back and enjoying the AARs from you. Then I'll tackle Pete's mission - although I'm also play testing number five quite a bit The missions to date are a lot to live up to, so I'm hoping my idea works. Mmmmmm I wonder

  15. #15

    Default

    Well done Mike, super part two - Uncle has reviewed

    "He is wise who watches"

  16. #16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ShadowDragon View Post
    Indeed, what the heck! My only regret was in not providing a half-pint version. I realized the problem when I thought about converting the mission to my (now) post-WWI Balkans campaign. Too many planes. I haven't done that version yet. I will tonight. There will be just 2 scouts and 2 tandems available for the friendly side, 3 scouts for the other side, no AA guns and just 2 targets, one of which will be the real one.

    The delay is because I had to get my head around the storyline and because I've been off doing other things. Haven't looked at Pete's scenario yet.
    I'm half done my version for the post-War Balkans with the half-pint version and I no longer regrets not offering a half-pint version. It's not nearly as interesting / as much fun as the full versions I played nor all the great AAR I've read.

  17. #17

    Default

    a fart of Bulldogs !! (the collective noun apparently!)
    Nice one Uncle. Have to admit I have never come across that one before. I shall be sure to pass it on to all my friends and family

    'Forced' Landings:
    If your machine has been badly mauled & FRTB but it's unlikely you can escape the table you have the option of a forced landing:
    As your machine has health points you are making a 'controlled landing'. ie it's not shot down, you can put it down without any kind of modifiers other than NML/SEA; night landing (-1) which would force a crash roll.
    If you are behind enemy lines just have to roll for E&E with the standard mods for BEL, NML/SEA or WIA - and count the machine as a kill to the opposition.
    RTB is different as you're landing on an approved strip with support of staff to help so it has a positive modifier, landing elsewhere is effectively a zero, ie no modifier - Tally corrected though no final difference in this case.
    Haven't taken a word of that in - just glad you're there to look after us all Many thanks for making the necessary adjustment Uncle

  18. #18

    Default

    Quite the uphill marathon for today's Hun fliegers. The Bulldogs had their way with them on all points. Even the Hun AA was more of a joke than a threat.
    A good day to build up morale and an excuse for a late night in the mess!

    Well done again Mike. Thanks for the read.

  19. #19

    Default

    Cheers Peter - Think I'll join you in the Mess now



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