Recover Recon Pilot and Camera, 2nd Attempt, Part 2

The squad makes their way towards the small village where the pilot may be hiding out.

"We need to check the building on the hill for Germans. Dick, Bill, Smitty, will go up the hill,
 the rest of us will circle around to the front."



The rest of the squad provide cover as Bill, Dick and Smitty move in.

It's empty! Bill, Dick, and Smitty take positions in house as we move towards the village.

Suddenly a cowboy appears!

Don't Shoot! Don't Shoot!

He claims to be the American pilot we've been searching for. He says he saw us approaching from the window. We ask him some questions to make sure he's American.

 

Which team won the World Series in 1942? What's the capitol of California? Who's Dick Tracy?

He's Lt. "Tex," from Texas. "Ok, let's get back to our lines!"

 

 

 

 

Recover Recon Pilot and Camera, 2nd Attempt, Part 1

"Ok, we're going to give this another shot, even though last time we almost didn't make it back. Forget the medic this time, we take another gun in his place. And we got another tech to retrieve the camera.

 

"This time we come in from the south west corner and go straight up to where the recon plane should be. Let's saddle up."

 

 

A bird's eye view of the terrain. If the pilot is not at the crash sight, he could be hiding out in the village in the north west corner.

 

 

Seems a little quiet in the village. Only a cat. (actually a PEF, Possible Enemy Force)

 

Hopefully we don't have a repeat of what happened last time.

Let's move out! Keep your eyes open for the Germans.

 

 

Dick takes the point. I'm right behind him. Behind me, Louigi Cantoni with the BAR, the Army tech, Izzy Cohen, and Perm

 

 

Half the squad goes up the hill. I take the other half around the hill. On top of the hill we spot the crashed plane.

 

No pilot in sight.

 

 

A few seconds after spotting the plane, a squad of Germans come up the opposite side of the hill!

 

 

"Amerikaner!"

 

 

Both sides open fire.

 

Kurt drops the first German.

 

 

Dick spots the German squad leader in the open and guns him down at close range.

 

 

The German squad leader is waving his men forward just before getting shot.

 

 

After the German squad leader is shot down, three of the German soldiers flee!

 

"Scheisse! Wir mussen weg gehen!"

 

 

The fleeing Germans fire as they flee.

Perm is KIA

 

 

A few of our guys check the German bodies for souvenirs.

Bill finds a loaf of bread. Dick takes a flask of schnapps off the German squad leader. Louigi Cantoni finds a Swiss army knife from another German.

 

When we get to the plane we provide cover while the tech recovers the camera. 

 

Izzy and the tech successfully recover the camera.

 

Now we have to find the pilot. "Let's check out the village..."

 

To be continued.

 

 

The Cat and the Game Table

My cat always wants to see what's happening on top of the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recover Recon Pilot and Camera



 "Listen up! We just got word from the CO that one of our recon planes crash landed not far from here. We need to recover the pilot and the camera from the aircraft before the Germans get their hands on it."

"Here's the map. We'll be entering from the west, towards the bottom. The plane is supposed to be somewhere in the northeast corner. There's also the possibility that the pilot made it to the village in the northwest corner to hide out. We'll be taking a technician and a medic with us. Let's saddle up."

 

The Germans could be any where.



Although wounded, Dick snuck out of the hospital to go on this mission.

 

We quickly crossed the road in pairs.
 

Behind the hedge Dick and Bill hear a noise. They get ready to blast it, but it turns out to be a cat.

It's only a Freeloader.

The freeloader may have been planted by the Germans......

As soon as Dick and Bill turn away from the cat.... Germans! The Germans are in a prepared defensive position.

They open up on us with all they got!

Dick and Bill do a good job pinning a few of the Germans.

Three of the Germans are outgunned and dive for cover.

Unfortunately the battle starts to turn against us...



"I'm hit!'

I'm on the ground - the next thing I see is a German grenade landing near by!

KABLAM!

Over at Dick's position, he yells, Grenade! A second German grenade is tossed. He should have stayed in the hospital.

 

KABLAM!

Izzy and the army technician were about ready to toss their grenades when they got hit by the German grenade blast. When they went down, their grenades went off.

KABLAM!  KABLAM!





 

The Germans continued raking us over with small arms fire. They must have been laughing at us.

 

Die Amerikaner sind Idioten, nicht wahr?
Mein Hund ist kluger als die Amerkaner Soldaten...
 

 

The entire squad was wounded. Some of us badly wounded. One KIA, the army technician.  It was time to fall back to our lines. We'll have to find another way to get to the recon plane.



 

 



Bloody St. Mick, Part 2

"Ok, listen up. The St Michaux road is just ahead. Our objective is to take the building in the southwest corner. We'll take that first. Once it 's secured we'll take the cottage on the east side and occupy the hill in the southeast corner. Let's move out."

The squad enters the board on the northwest corner.

 

 

 

 

We advance line abreast. Looking out for any Germans.

 

 

Bill and Kurt get ready to enter the first building.
The other squad members set up to provide cover fire if needed.

Bill kicks in the door! We catch 5 German paratroopers eating.
We immediately shoot down two paratroopers.
 

 

We kill another German and the other two surrender.
Izzy Cohen guards them.
Bill and Kurt search the next floors. 

The next floor there is nobody and the top floor there are a couple frightened civilians.



Outside the building a German patrol shows up!
It's a tough fight. The Germans have a lot of firepower.

We take positions at a window.  Little John and
Cpl Duggan fire back from outside. The German
patrol is finally eliminated. The German officer runs off
once his squad is put out of action.

 

 

We suffer casualties in the gun battle.

Little John and Cpl Duggan are severely wounded.

Our squad is down to 3 men.

 

 

Izzy remains at the first building guarding the two prisoners.
Bill and Kurt cross the bridge to the cottage.

 

 

Carefully checking out the cottage.

 

 

 

The cottage turns up empty. Bill occupies the cottage.
Kurt occupies the hill across the way.
Mission accomplished.

The rest of our unit came down the St. Michaux road a few hours later.  They also picked up our wounded.

In the After Action Report to the CO, I indicated that it was not worth taking the two prisoners. We could have used the extra gun that was guarding the prisoners.  Hopefully they will provide some information.

I see our replacements are arriving now.

Bloody St Mick, Part 1

"Ok, we just got our orders. The war starts here. Our job is to move ahead of the main force to secure one of several exits from the beaches. We'll need to capture and hold a stretch of  the St. Michaux road. Needless to say there will be Germans throughout this area."

 

"We'll take Caje, Little John, Cpl Dugan, Izzy Cohen and Kirby will be our BAR man." 

 

"Here's what the first section of terrain looks like. We'll be approaching from the south end. Keep your eyes peeled for Germans beyond the village. They're out there."

 

 

The squad enters for the bottom.

 

  

 

Squad forward!

 

  

 

As the squad moves around the first building, one of the men spots a German defensive position in the field behind the house. As soon as they see us they open up with everything they've got.

"Amerikaner!" "Schiessen!" "Toten sie wie Hunde!"

 

 

The German fire is intense! We duck back behind the house!

 

Kirby lets loose with his BAR!

 

 

Frightened townsfolk run across the battlefield!

 

 

Kirby and Cage move to better positions but are wounded.

 

 

Sgt Bill and Little John move to out flank the German defensive position. Little John picks up Kirby's BAR. The rest of the squad moves into the house to provide covering fire. Several Germans go down wounded. Sgt Dick Beigel is hit twice and goes down.

 

While the Germans are pinned Bill and Little John fast move to the
German defensive position.

 

 

 

Nearby ducks are unaware of the battle taking place.

 

 

 

 

Bill and Little John successfully out flank the Germans, firing and wounding more of the SOBs!

 

The last unwounded German refuses to surrender.
Bill charges and severely wounds him.

 

 

 

"The St Michaux road is still ahead. We'll have to leave are wounded here for now and pick them up on the way back."

 

The squad is down to 5 men.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to France

DDay + 4, Normandy, France. We just arrived from England and are awaiting orders to go inland. The NCOs assigned to my squad are Sergeants Dick Beigel and Bill Beigel.




Left to right, Lt Kurt Hsu, Sgt Dick Beigel, Sgt Bill Beigel, waitng for orders.

Lt. Kurt Hsu, CA., is an engraver by trade. He signed up because he thought with a little combat experience, he could make General by the end of the war.

Sgt. Dick Beigel, Los Angeles, CA, is a farmer. He joined the army to kill Nazis.

Sgt. Bill Beigel, Los Angeles, CA, is fresh out of school so the army is all he knows. He enjoys the camraderie of sharing a foxhole with his fellow soldiers.