"Nein Herr General"
"Aber Herr General"
"Jawohl Herr General"
"Well Marcus, that told me!" said Haupmann Philip von Turpitz, replacing the phone on the cradle.
"Jawohl Herr Haupmann" Lueutnant Marcus POsseldt replied, grinning. von Turpitz glared at his Commumications Officer, before he too began grinning.
"Some General's been given information about the British bringing up supplies, men and armaments and he wants us to have a look I only asked where do I look and he exploded. I think his exact directions were "Over there. Do I have to explain everything to you?" I can only assume he meant West!"
Later Posseldt returned from debriefing the the Dawn Patrol.
"Luckily I can help you sir. von Weddall and Delling got lost in the clouds and found themselves much further West than they wanted to be and much closer than the British wanted them to be. Delling said they sent up a lot of machine gun fire, so they climbed out of trouble and saw some British planes coming their way. So after taking a rough bearing they run for home. Believe it or not it's about 40 kilometres due West of our location" The grin came back to his face.
"There are times Leutnant, when you can be really irritating. Now go and get the men together."
One hour later the pilots and crews had been briefed and were heading due West.
Albatros D.II - Leutnant Karl von Krist
Albatros D.II - Leutnant Friedrich Henst
Roland C.IIa - Leutnant Ludwig Giam, pilot, Leutnant Hans Browski, observer
Roland C.II - Leutnant Wilheim Somner, pilot, Leutnant Yohann Koptka, observer
Nieuport 17 - 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth Anderson -
Nieuport 17 - 2nd Lieutenant Timothy Krumrie
von Krist and Henst led the way. von Krist waggled his wings as he saw in the distance two large industrial areas, protected by a half circle of Anti Aircraft Machine Guns. He also saw two planes turn towards them.
vin Krist led them towards the sheds and run into heavy AA machine gun fire MG2 (3) (2 +1 plus Smoke) He flew on and scored damage on another position MG1 (3). Henst headed towards the right hand sheds, taking fire another position MG(4) that suddenly stopped (2 plus Gun Jam) Giam/Browski followed von Krist, exchanging fire with MG2 MG2 (2) G/B (2 plus Fire) Henst destroyed MG5 with a long burst (5)
Giam/Browski continued to fight the Fire (3)
As Somner followed Henst, he heard Koptka open up on Anderson's Nieuport, that was closing (2) but he missed with his second shot.
Giam's frantic flying had reduced the Flames (0)
Henst led the attack on MG3 but missed (0) von Krist followed closer spraying the position with bullets (0, 3) but flew too close as the position replied (3 plus Engine Damage, Boom) Giam was shocked as von Krist's plane disintegrated but Browski finished the gun (4) Henst flew onto MG4 doing little damage (1, 1)
Giam breathed a sign of relief as the Flames went out (0)
Giam turned back to the left hand position MG((2) but missed (0) He flew onto the next position MG (1) and his long burst destroyed it (4). Henst suffered damage (4, 1) over on the right hand position MG(4) . Henst continued to have trouble from the machine gun until it suddenly fell silent (3, 2 plus Gun Jam)
Somner was learning the hard lesson of being a two seater pilot. His neck was aching as he tried to keep his eyes on the factory buildings and also trying to give Koptka a shot on Anderson. Koptka's gun fired and a quick glance from Somner saw bits flying off the Nieuport (2 plus NRR) followed by another hit (3+1) As Anderson broke away, Koptka was able to get a clear photograph of the factory buildings on the right hand side.
Having flown past the deadly fire of the AAMGs Browski got a clear shot of the storage sheds. As Browski glanced up he was sure he saw smoke from a train another 5-6 kilometres further East. Now it was time to get home.
Flying back past the nearest gun position a massive fight ensued between the gun and Giam and Koptka resulting nobody hitting anything and German's guns jamming. Flying on, clearing their guns Giam missed (0) MG4 but in the following plane Koptka destroyed the position (3) Together Giam hit Krumrie (2) and Browski hit Anderson (1) Browski continued to hit the Nieuport (0, 1+1 plus Injured Pilot) Anderson pushes the nose down and heads West.
Henst and the two Rolands have a head start on Krumrie which he knows he will never close quickly enough and he too heads West. The Roland's photos were rushed off to Headquarters)
von Turpitz splashed schnapps into glasses for the returning pilots and observers.
"Well done all. We've still had no word on von Kirst but there's sti... The phone from Headquarters rang
"Gott in Himmel. Was nun?"
BUTCHER'S TALLY
Karl von Krist Rolled 9 Boom -3 = 6 Injured miss 2
Escape and Evasion Rolled 8 Boom -1 BEL -1 = 6 In hiding miss 2 Miss 2 total
Friedrich Henst RTB
Ludwig Giam RTB
Hans Browski RTB
Wilheim Somner RTB
Johann Koptka RTB
Kenneth Anderson Rolled 6 FRTB WIA -1 = 5 Injured miss 3
Timothy Krumrie RTB
Special thanks to Dave for discovering my BT error otherwise 8 out of 9 had injuries
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