OTT CYM Mission 3 -The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence - July 19th 1916 - teaticket

[Teaticket]

Onkel stood in front of the summoned pilots in the briefing room.
“Gentlemen, Today I will not assign any of you to today’s mission. This morning, despite the gallant effort of our mechanics, we have a paucity of functioning aircraft”.

Looking down at the aircraft maintenance report in his hand Onkel reads again that there are only four ready scouts and three tandems. He bites softly on his lower lip.
“Today I will ask for volunteers. Before anyone comes forward let me explain what we need to get done today”.

“We need to secure photographs from behind the enemy lines in sector 4. Intelligence at HQ tells us there is a buildup growing for an offensive. The offensive cannot be stopped but if we are successful, we can delay it giving our boys more time to prepare and lessen its impact. We are to find the supply dumps and then also bomb them”.

“We’ve been given a tall task and I know you will do your best. To start this mission, I need two scout pilots and two tandem crews. Come to my office in ten minutes and be ready to go. I’ll give you exact instructions then”.

As soon as Onkel left the room there was a scuffle to get to the door first. Alfred Müller was up first but Hans Pfeiffer grabbed and spun him around. Werner Hengst wrestled with Otto Reittinger as Paul Wolff snaked through the pile while pushing off Reinhold Schäfer behind him. It was more a rugby scrum than an orderly ending to a mission briefing.

“HALT”! Konrad bellowed. Everyone froze in their tracks and turned around to face the flight leader.
Obltn Konrad Dahl shook his head. “I thought I had a Jasta of responsible, trained pilots, not a group of uncontrolled school children on recess”.

“Onkel wants volunteers. Wolff, Müller, you are the two scout volunteers. Go meet with the tandem team volunteers in the ready room, they have already been given their instructions. Please take extra care of your machines on this flight so we can use them later today. Be off”.

Wolff and Müller straightened themselves out and made their way to meet with Rudolf Mulzer, Dieter Rosenfeldt, Hans Steinhäuser and Gottfried Esswein.


Once in the air Wolff and Müller took the lead with the two tandems close behind. Senior pilot of the two seaters, Hans Steinhäuser, held the honor of being the primary photograph plane with Rudolf Mulzer flew secondary.



After the Eagles crossed their own lines nearing those of the enemy, French aircraft could be seen circling over where their suspected targets were. Rudolf breaks formation hoping to have a better angle of attack when the French are engaged.





As soon as they crossed the lines the French AA opened up.
Alfred laughed, “Those French couldn’t hit anything, even if it were on the ground right in front of them”!



Just as Alfred cleared the black AA cloud in came the first French Nieuport. He and Paul shot at it with little effect. The French plane immediately had a problem with a jammed Lewis gun.



The Frenchman flew straight in forcing a surprised Paul to dive out of the way of the Nieuport.





Two more N17s quickly approach the skirmish.



Rudolf sees that the newcomers are heading right towards him so he turns back to get behind Hans and their escort.
Paul and Alfred turn to engage the newcomers hoping Hans and Gotty can handle the 1st Nieuport.





Gotty get in a shot that damages the green Nieuport’s controls.



The CDL Albatros has the attention of the ground gunners. This time they are much closer to hitting the slower tandem.



Gotty keeps on shooting and more and more wood and canvas are removed from his target’s the ailerons.
Hans keeps his head and stays focused on taking his first photograph.





Gotty almost feels sorry for this Frenchman as he tears into his plane again.
Remy can’t believe his bad luck. His Lewis had jammed on his first shot and while he cleared it his foe had shredded his ride. St. Martin’s N17 has had enough and reluctantly dives out of the fight.



Dubois and Rosenfeldt trade harmless long range shots. As Dubois passes behind the Roland Dieter finally scores some minor damage.
Müller tightens his turn to help out his friends in the Roland. He squeezes his trigger and has a good feeling that his rounds found the enemy. He was sure he saw the French pilot flinch in the cockpit.








While concentrating on Dubois, Müller failed to notice the pair of N17s flying directly at him. His Fokker is peppered with lead, damaging the controls and plinking the oil line causing smoke to trail his D.I.

Joubert stays on Müller and punishes him for his lack of situational awareness.





Seems Wolff’s Fokker E.IV is very prone to engine damage as again he is forced to leave the battle. Not a day at the beach as the bad vibrations and sputtering engine once again do him in. A small relief is Allard has jammed his gun.



Even though smoking and with engine damage, Müller and Wolff reversed to face their tailing enemy. Even Rosenfeldt adds in a burst on Joubert causing his N17 to trail smoke.







Joubert gets off a quick burst and adds more control damage to Müller.



Dubois heads for home after quickly tying a tourniquet around his wounded leg.



Behind the lines and away from the fight Hans and Rudolf steer their tandems over the targets to take their photographs.





Even though they were away from the enemy aircraft they still weren't safe as they had the attention of the guns on the ground.



After clearing his jam, Allard found himself in a difficult position between Müller and Wolff. Lucky for Allard, Wolff’s engine damage was too much to carry on. Wolff disengaged.



Müller also gained the attention of a second AA gun but its aim was off.



Backing off a bit Müller let Allard fly into his guns but somehow could not hit such an easy target!



Allard has had enough and reverses, almost hitting Müller in the process.



While this is going on Hans and Rudolf make their way to the second set of targets, but not without the occasional AA burst hurrying them along.









The French regroup and get ready for another attack.



Joubert gets in a damaging burst with little effective return fire.



Allard follows Joubert in with Müller trying to catch him from behind.
The AA does its best to stop Müller but come up short again.
And again on the Roland…







Unimpeded, Allard rips into the Albatros. Hans grimaces as the C.III shudders under the blows. His only thought this second is to get back over friendly territory.




Müller and Rosenfeldt try to dissuade Allard from pursuing their comrade but can do little.



Maybe the distraction worked as Allard turns his attention to the Roland, letting Hans and Gotty off the hook. Mulzer frantically rocks the Roland in evasive maneuvers to throw off the Frenchman’s aim. Mulzer was momentarily furious with Rosenfeldt. “Why wasn’t he returning fire”? Then he turns and sees Rosenfeldt taking a photo of the last target. “Ah, good man”!



Esswein is at his gun and does make Allard pay for his attack on Mulzer.


Müller is now set upon by Joubert. Müller tries to avoid Joubert and gets a shot at Allard, setting him ablaze.





As soon as he can Rosenfeldt drops the camera and takes up the machine gun. The blazing Allard is an easy target to hit.



Müller knows he can’t let Joubert stay behind him so Immelmanns, catching Joubert off guard. Müller gets off a quick lucky shot and wounds Joubert.



Allards fire seems harmless but Allard knows his N17 is in a bad way. He dives attempting to blow out the flames and to his delight is successful!





Hans and Rudolf signal each other to head home with the photos. Müller lets the wounded Joubert go so he can join up with the two tandems. The return home is uneventful but is filled with the good feeling of success. A great haul of photographs for HQ and everyone returned home, what could be better.



Joubert and Allard head back to their aerodrome licking their wounds.



Intermission

[Teaticket]

Konrad was thrilled that all of his fellow pilots returned safely from the first part of the mission. He was not so thrilled with condition of the returning aircraft.

Paul Wolff had the bad luck of another compromising damaged engine, or is it the bad luck of the E.IV he chooses to fly?

Adolf Müller was lucky to get home. Whether he escorted the tandems home or they him, it didn’t matter as they all got home.

Hans Steinhäuser brought Gottfried Esswein and his Albatros home, a little beat up but with a set of very good photographs.

To Konrad’s relief Rudolf Mulzer and Dieter Rosenfeldt brought back their valuable photos and a plane good enough to keep flying.

With all the congratulations for returning over, the preparations for the follow-up mission began. The few planes available were readied while the photos were whisked to HQ for their examination.

Adolf and Paul demanded to be let fly in the next segment and Konrad reluctantly allowed Alfred to as he felt he earned it. Paul he kept back not wanting to have him fly an aircraft he wasn’t accustomed to. Adolf Müller would get to fly a fresh Fokker D.I accompanied by Reinhold Schäfer in his similar scout.


Gerhard Witgens would get to fly the Roland CII but this time armed with bombs instead of photo plates. Alexander Baldmaus would have the stick on the bomb laden blue Albatros C.III.

The four eagles crossed over the German trenches knowing they would soon face some stiff opposition. Müller took the lead as he had flown here just over an hour ago. He knew exactly where to lead the bombers and wanted them on course before the enemy appeared. As soon as the French were spotted Müller went straight for them.







St Martin and Allard notices the approaching aircraft knowing it would be the Germans.





Henri Guerin and Andre Baux had a bit of trouble getting out of each other’s way approaching the front.



Müller was determined to give it to the French better than his last outing. He singles out the trailing Nieuport and his string of rounds hit home convincingly.



St Martin was faster than the Fokkers and got to the bombers first.
Alex Baldmaus was ready though and did not flinch when the rounds came in from the French scout. He did not want to engage the enemy but did what he must to get through to the targets.



The Frenchman came in so fast the slow Albatros could not do anything to avoid brushing against it. Somehow the N17 came out unscathed.



Allard has a very lucky moment as he avoids damage from the attacks from both of the German Fokkers.



After Allard got past the pair of clumsy Fokkers to line up on the Albatros. His luck was still with him.
Alex had taken one breath of relief for having survived a collision but before his next breath disaster struck. Allard came in from his right and dealt his Albatros a knockout blow.



While all this was happening Gerhard Witgens skirted the action and hoped to get by unnoticed.



To Witgens despair, even before Baldmaus hit the ground the French N17s were homing in on him.



While trying to clear a gun jam Müller didn’t notice another Frenchman enter the fray. The bullets hitting his Fokker quickly got his attention but eyes immediately left the N17 when a deafening report just to the right ripped the sky apart. Luckily it was all noise.





As Müller sprung his head back around to find Guerin at the last moment,. The glimpse he caught was just in time. Instinctively pulling hard on the stick he somehow missed colliding with the Nieuport.



Schäfer pulled away from Müller and went to help Witgens. He caught Allard from behind and made him pay.



Schäfer’s shots into Allard didn’t help as Allard finds Witgens directly in his sights.



Witgens was a bit woozy after being wounded but still got off an ineffective shot at another incoming Frenchman. He had a lucky moment as the two closest Frenchmen in front of him and behind missed him, and even better, both jammed their guns!





Unfortunatley St Martin got in a lucky shot causing the Roland to spurt flames.



The twitchy ground crew was shooting every which way and would be hearing from Guerin if he survived the battle.



As Allard reached up to his jammed Lewis, Schäfer finished him off. The Nieuport spun downward leaving a black corckscrew in the sky behind it.


Witgens feared the fire would consume his Roland.



St Martin kept on Witgen’s tail while stalling to throw off Schäfer on his. St Martin’s ploy worked and Schäfer overshot and could not get in a shot of his own.



With an incessant pain from his wound and his aircraft on fire, Witgens blindly lets his bombs drop as he turns back towards his own lines.



The bombs fall into an empty field closer to the AA section than the target.



Schäfer can’t get away from St Martin, and Guerin also closes in. There are a lot of new holes in Schäfer’s D.I.
Guerin doesn’t give up on Schäfer but Müller makes him pay for it.





Schäfer might not have been able to fire at St Martin but did distract him a bit. To St Martin’s frustration his Lewis jams while he tried one more time to take down the German bomber.



Schäfer takes a beating from Guerin, literally. The wound is a scratch but his D.I is shredded.



Fighting with the pain and his burning plane, Witgens still gets off a quick shot at Baux as he flies across the Roland’s nose.



Müller finally gets back into a firing position but nothing happens when he pulls the trigger.



Witgen’s fire flares up and grows.



Witgens and Schäfer point their badly wounded birds east while the rest mull about working on jammed rounds of assessing their own aircraft’s health.



Schäfer gets a bit too close as he tries to get a look at Witgen’s fire damage.



Still too close they nudge one another but luckily part with no damage.





Out of the fire and into the frying pan. Miraculously avoiding any collision damage, the French AA lob a round their way but again their luck holds as it is too high.



Witgen’s fire somehow blows out to his immense relief. The pair of Eagles head for home with their heads hung low. The French have had the better of them today without doubt.





Müller does what he can to help his comrades get away. He can’t yet shoot but he can get in the way.
Closer than he wanted to be, Müller brushes the N17. The French aircraft takes the worst of it.





Müller’s action does the trick as his comrades get away. Now he must somehow extricate himself.





Guerin, wounded in the collision heads home.
Baux, over anxious to help, overshoots Müller and gets himself into trouble.



Panicking when the flames try to fill the cockpit, Baux turns right into Müller. The D.I takes a beating from the contact.



The fire burns brightly on the N17.



Müller sees some daylight between the French and tries to get away.



St Martin will have none of it and closes in.
Müller has a bad feeling.



He tries to lose St Martin by slipping towards Baux, but Baux and St Martin are ready for this move.



St Martin shows no mercy and pummels the Fokker over no mans land.
As his Fokker spins Müller fights to keep out of the flames all the way to the ground.


Attachment 290077


Baux does not make it home with his N17 as it succumbs to the flames on the way.



St Martin is the last to leave the sector. He flies over the supply dumps knowing he and his boys have done their job today. He waves his wings to those below and heads for the barn.



Butcher’s Bill - Part 1


Bouledogues


Lt Remy St. Martin FRTB-D will fly in 2nd part

S/Lt Raoul Allard FRTB-D Will fly in 2nd part

S/Lt Marcel Joubert FRTB-W / WIA
C 8 -1(wia) +1(rtb) = 8 injured, 5 = Miss 2 Missions

Sgt Dubois FRTB-W / WIA 0 Kills
C 8 -1(wia) +1(rtb) = 8 injured, 5 = Miss 2 Missions


Kaiser’s Eagles


Ltn Paul Wolff FRTB-E Will sit out part 2


Ltn Alfred Müller RTB Will fly in part 2


Obltn Hans Steinhäuser / Ltn Gottfried Esswein RTB Will sit out part 2 due to damage.

Ltn Rudolf Muzler/ Ltn Dieter Rosenfeldt RTB
1 point of damage – The crew will sit out part 2 but the Scorpion will fly.


Butcher’s Bill - Part 2


Bouledogues


S/Lt Raoul Allard SD-FT 1 Kill
C 3 -1(sd) = 2 KIA


Sgt Henri Guerin FRTB-D 0 kills
C 7 +1(rtb) = 8 injured, 1 = Miss 1 Mission


Asp Andre Baux SD-FLM-FT 0 kills
C 5 -2(flm) = 3 injured, 3 = Miss 3 Missions


Lt Remy St. Martin RTB 1 Kill


Kaiser’s Eagles


Fwbl Alexander Baldamus EXP-NML 0 Kills
C 2 -3(exp) -1NML = -2 KIA


Ltn Reinhold Schäfer FRTB-W / WIA 1 Kill
C 9 -1(wia) +1(rtb) = 9 OK


Vzfwbl Gerhard Wintgens FRTB-W / WIA 0 Kills
C 7 -1(wia) +1(rtb) = 7 injured, 4 = Miss 2 Missions


Ltn Alfred Müller SD-FLM-NML 0 Kills
C 9 -2(flm) -1(nml) = 6 injured, 3 = Miss 2 Missions

[Stumptonian]

Well that was a bloody mess for sure!

Brave pilots on both sides, but gun jams and collisions certainly added to the fracas.
Just as well the French AA was ineffective. That would have really been the icing on last year's fruit cake.

Your Adler did us proud, but not the result needed from this one.

REP inbound to offer some condolence.

[Teaticket]

This was a tease. The first part went reasonably well. No kills but we got a lot of photos and everyone made it home. Part 2 was a gallant effort in a lost cause.

[ShadowDragon]

Wow! I did not expect the 2nd part to go the way it did. Excellent job on part 1 and a gallant effort on part 2 - darn those intrepid Bouledogues, don't they know when they're beaten?

Great planes and a good storyline to tie the two episodes together. Salute to the KIA pilots on both sides. A glass in their honour....

[gully_raker]

Well Peter that ended in a very dramatic fashion!
After an pretty easy & successful first mission it sure went ploin shaped in the second half.
So many collisions, fires, wia etc.
R.I.P the brave pilots from both sides who gave their lives for their cause.

Some Rep on the way to ease the pain mate.

[Brak Morn]

You know, Peter, I wish if you're going to do these AAR's that you'd at least add a few photos......... Seriously mate, cannot conceive how long it took to post that, and I'll never post one after reading that magnum opus. Incredible.

[flash]

Well that was quite a shindig Peter ! Part one and two were chalk and cheese for the Eagles, despite not achieving their goal they seemed to get off lightly compare to the Bulldogs who were well beaten up for their efforts.
Really enjoyed the ride

Onkel says:


Well, in spite of our best efforts the French managed to prevent us achieving our goal. We must do better, the HQ staff will take a dim view of this and now some other poor sod will have to get the job done.

I missed the images in the Butcher's bill - they really help and save me having to trawl the AAR to clarify details.
If you report a FRTB please note the reason for it to clarify. eg FRTB-W for wound, FTRTB-D for damage, FRTB-E for engine.
For instance you could have a wound but that may not be the reason you're FRTB, if it is the case FRTB-W / WIA clarifies it for me.

Sgt Henri Guerin - collisions do not count special damage other than EXP... is this something you've house ruled ? If not I will correct the tally.

ObLtn Hans Steinhäuser is awarded the Iron Cross 1st class for his service to the Kaiser.
Ltn Reinhold Schäfer at last receives his pilot's badge with his first victory.

Lt Remy St.Martin is awarded War Cross with silver gilt star (Croix de Guerre étoile de vermeil) (CdGg) for his fourth victory

[Teaticket]

Wow! I did not expect the 2nd part to go the way it did. Excellent job on part 1 and a gallant effort on part 2 - darn those intrepid Bouledogues, don't they know when they're beaten?

Great planes and a good storyline to tie the two episodes together. Salute to the KIA pilots on both sides. A glass in their honour....

Well Peter that ended in a very dramatic fashion!
After an pretty easy & successful first mission it sure went ploin shaped in the second half.
So many collisions, fires, wia etc.
R.I.P the brave pilots from both sides who gave their lives for their cause.

Some Rep on the way to ease the pain mate.

Thanks guys. Definitely a big turn around and not for the better. I was surprised that the first part had no planes downed at all. Part 2 had quite a different taste to it. With 6 collisions if I didn't use the collision cards I doubt anyone would have made it home.

[malachi]

Very entertaining! Thanks for tense AAR

[Teaticket]

You know, Peter, I wish if you're going to do these AAR's that you'd at least add a few photos......... Seriously mate, cannot conceive how long it took to post that, and I'll never post one after reading that magnum opus. Incredible.

This one ended up a lot longer than I expected. I'm sure I could have cut out more of the photos but as there were so many a few more wouldn't have made much difference.

Don't let this monster dissuade you from doing AARs. They usually are much shorter and easier to do.

[mikeemagnus]

Wow Peter, that was a party and no mistake. Like everyone else I was surprised by the second part of the mission. The first part seemed to go pretty smoothly and getting all of your Eagles home at the end of it was pretty good news for them. But the second part of the mission went a bit pear shaped for them and no mistake. Always sad to see pilots go west, on either side - RIP S/Lt Raoul Allard and Fwbl Alexander Baldamus both. As for the AA, I think those French gunners were every bit as ineffective as the German gunners were in my own mission. But the collisions and jams! Oh dear, they certainly didn't help.

Great AAR as usual and I love those aircraft of yours; nice paint jobs I think I shall have to get me a Roland CII soon - your scorpion looked really good. REP inbound and thanks for the entertainment yet again

[flash]

Onkel has done Peter - What a great game ! REP gun jammed at the minute

[Teaticket]

Well that was quite a shindig Peter ! Part one and two were chalk and cheese for the Eagles, despite not achieving their goal they seemed to get off lightly compare to the Bulldogs who were well beaten up for their efforts.
Really enjoyed the ride

Onkel says:


Well, in spite of our best efforts the French managed to prevent us achieving our goal. We must do better, the HQ staff will take a dim view of this and now some other poor sod will have to get the job done.

I missed the images in the Butcher's bill - they really help and save me having to trawl the AAR to clarify details.
If you report a FRTB please note the reason for it to clarify. eg FRTB-W for wound, FTRTB-D for damage, FRTB-E for engine.
For instance you could have a wound but that may not be the reason you're FRTB, if it is the case FRTB-W / WIA clarifies it for me.

Sgt Henri Guerin - collisions do not count special damage other than EXP... is this something you've house ruled ? If not I will correct the tally.

ObLtn Hans Steinhäuser is awarded the Iron Cross 1st class for his service to the Kaiser.
Ltn Reinhold Schäfer at last receives his pilot's badge with his first victory.

Lt Remy St.Martin is awarded War Cross with silver gilt star (Croix de Guerre étoile de vermeil) (CdGg) for his fourth victory

Oops, sorry Onkel. Botched up the end of this report a bit. Sooo many photos I thought I had pasted them all in!
Guerin had to go home from Damage, not Wound! I know collisions don't do special damage but brain farted here as well as not suffixing the FRTBs.
Humble apologies.

[flash]

Oops, sorry Onkel. Botched up the end of this report a bit. Sooo many photos I thought I had pasted them all in!
Guerin had to go home from Damage, not Wound! I know collisions don't do special damage but brain farted here as well as not suffixing the FRTBs.
Humble apologies.

Took me a while but I got there in the end ! I'm not surprised as this was a marathon mission and pretty hard to keep track of all the little things.
As for Guerin I was going by your commentary:

Guerin, wounded in the collision heads home.

Thought it was odd.

[Teaticket]

Took me a while but I got there in the end ! I'm not surprised as this was a marathon mission and pretty hard to keep track of all the little things.
As for Guerin I was going by your commentary:
Guerin, wounded in the collision heads home.
Thought it was odd.

Yeah, my bad. Should have been his plane was smashed to a pulp but somehow still able to stay aloft. Luckily it didn't change the outcome.

[Stumptonian]

Myself I think special damage in a collision, fire or AA makes sense.
Not sure why Andrea chose not to count it.

[Teaticket]

Myself I think special damage in a collision, fire or AA makes sense.
Not sure why Andrea chose not to count it.

I agree that collisions could cause special damage. Maybe he was being nice to keep us in the air longer?