Unterfeldwebel Otto Wienstein wiped the back of his hands across his dry lips. He was desperate for a drink, the last water he had had was three hours ago before the battle.
The large lumbering form of Obergefreiter Ralf Eichmann appeared at the top of the stairs.
"How many?" asked Otto.
"Braun, Werner and Schwartz dead. Meyer and Beck off to get patched up"
"Take two from Kurt, One from Naldo. And do it quickly, the americans will be back soon"
Ralf thumped heavily back down the stairs, at 24 he was the second oldest of the Obergefreiters. Naldo Schroeder was 23, like Otto, and Kurt Zimmermann was the old man of the platoon at 28. They made for a strange bunch. Ralf had been a farmer hand before the war, which suited his large frame perfectly. Kurt had been a dockworker and, as the rumours went, a bit too close with the communist party. When there had been a communist party. Naldo had been finishing up school in Munich, although whether it had been on his terms or not was unclear. Regardless of his performance at school he had certainly found his feet in the Wehrmacht.
Otto himself had been part of the Hitlerjugend, at first more due to his father's insistence than any motivation of his own. But it did not take long before he understood so clearly what the Fuhrer talked of. It became a burning fire inside of him that drove him onward, especially at times like this.
The americans had tried to push them back and they had resisted. Three dead was a price worth paying for such a victory. He turned away from the clouds of dust, settling in the distance, and eased his way downstairs to find a drink.
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"Two from your's, one from Naldo's" replied Ralf. Bugger. Three men dead may not seem like much to the little fuhrer upstairs, but to Kurt it did. It didn't matter that it was Ralf's gruppe that had taken the brunt of the punishment, the deaths would not sit well with the men.
He sighed. "Ok, Klaus, Helmuth, get your kit. You're with Obergefreiter Eichmann's squad for now"
Klaus rose slowly, leaning heavily on his rifle to push himself vertical. Helmuth screwed the cap back onto his canteen and followed suit. They both seemed reluctant to leave. Or were exhausted. Probably both.
The americans had advanced rapidly and given Ralf's gruppe a thumping. It had looked like the whole platoon would be overrun and forced to retreat, but Kurt and his men had push up in support and thrown down such a weight of fire into the yanks that it was the americans who had turned tail and run.
The fight had been on a knife edge and it was only the accurate shooting from Kurt's gruppe that had been the difference. One of his men had hit the yank sergeant, it looked like he may have gotten back up but it had certainly knocked the fight out of them.
For now.
They could already hear the rumbling to the north east that spoke of more tanks and trucks crawling towards them.
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The large lumbering form of Obergefreiter Ralf Eichmann appeared at the top of the stairs.
"How many?" asked Otto.
"Braun, Werner and Schwartz dead. Meyer and Beck off to get patched up"
"Take two from Kurt, One from Naldo. And do it quickly, the americans will be back soon"
Ralf thumped heavily back down the stairs, at 24 he was the second oldest of the Obergefreiters. Naldo Schroeder was 23, like Otto, and Kurt Zimmermann was the old man of the platoon at 28. They made for a strange bunch. Ralf had been a farmer hand before the war, which suited his large frame perfectly. Kurt had been a dockworker and, as the rumours went, a bit too close with the communist party. When there had been a communist party. Naldo had been finishing up school in Munich, although whether it had been on his terms or not was unclear. Regardless of his performance at school he had certainly found his feet in the Wehrmacht.
Otto himself had been part of the Hitlerjugend, at first more due to his father's insistence than any motivation of his own. But it did not take long before he understood so clearly what the Fuhrer talked of. It became a burning fire inside of him that drove him onward, especially at times like this.
The americans had tried to push them back and they had resisted. Three dead was a price worth paying for such a victory. He turned away from the clouds of dust, settling in the distance, and eased his way downstairs to find a drink.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Two from your's, one from Naldo's" replied Ralf. Bugger. Three men dead may not seem like much to the little fuhrer upstairs, but to Kurt it did. It didn't matter that it was Ralf's gruppe that had taken the brunt of the punishment, the deaths would not sit well with the men.
He sighed. "Ok, Klaus, Helmuth, get your kit. You're with Obergefreiter Eichmann's squad for now"
Klaus rose slowly, leaning heavily on his rifle to push himself vertical. Helmuth screwed the cap back onto his canteen and followed suit. They both seemed reluctant to leave. Or were exhausted. Probably both.
The americans had advanced rapidly and given Ralf's gruppe a thumping. It had looked like the whole platoon would be overrun and forced to retreat, but Kurt and his men had push up in support and thrown down such a weight of fire into the yanks that it was the americans who had turned tail and run.
The fight had been on a knife edge and it was only the accurate shooting from Kurt's gruppe that had been the difference. One of his men had hit the yank sergeant, it looked like he may have gotten back up but it had certainly knocked the fight out of them.
For now.
They could already hear the rumbling to the north east that spoke of more tanks and trucks crawling towards them.
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Game one ended in a German victory as the US force morale collapsed after some focused fire on Squad 2 (Blue spot 2) forced a senior leader to be killed and a junior leader to be wounded. My opponent had two shermans on the table but with the focus being on managing his squads, he made limited use of them. The second one sat behind first all game and did nothing other than deploy. The first managed to cause some shock and casualties to the MMG (Red spot MG). In addition the US had a mortar and sniper in the vicinity of blue spot M, Germans had no real counter to this.
For my actions I had a Section at red spot 1 which became became depleted and in danger of becoming pinned, under fire from squads 1 &2 of the US. I brought on a new section (red 2) and pushed ahead to cover 1 Section. They fired into US and ended up routing the troops after injuring JL and SL leader as above. 3 Section and the support MMG largely kept their opposites pinned back and forced the US player to use 3's on squads rather than tanks.
I placed a road block to prevent a rapid advance by the sherman, and minefields in the north to restrict the US routes of advance. While this was effective I need to change up this approach as I suspect my opponent will be looking to counter this in the next outing.
For my actions I had a Section at red spot 1 which became became depleted and in danger of becoming pinned, under fire from squads 1 &2 of the US. I brought on a new section (red 2) and pushed ahead to cover 1 Section. They fired into US and ended up routing the troops after injuring JL and SL leader as above. 3 Section and the support MMG largely kept their opposites pinned back and forced the US player to use 3's on squads rather than tanks.
I placed a road block to prevent a rapid advance by the sherman, and minefields in the north to restrict the US routes of advance. While this was effective I need to change up this approach as I suspect my opponent will be looking to counter this in the next outing.
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