Stronghold

[Jonathan Strange]

Strange was a scholar not a soldier. Perhaps that's why he seemed to be enjoying Africa more than the men under his command. For Strange, this was a brand new world full of unfamiliar locales and cultures to observe and learn about. For everyone else it was just some godforsaken hellhole that wasn't anywhere near home. Strange understood the sentiment but couldn't help but find everything fascinating. Even after his first firefight in Morocco, he had remained rather upbeat about the whole experience. He'd heard of the disaster at Kasserine but he hadn't experienced any real catastrophes himself.

But that was then. Here Strange and his band were about to tackle their toughest assignment yet. His company had been tasked with assaulting a portion of the Mareth line, a series of French defensive positions in Tunisia originally intended to defend against the Italians. The intention of the attack was to keep the German and Italian defenders occupied while a British assault force flanked the entire line from the extreme South flank and attack from behind, bottling up the Axis. It was a gamble, but if successful it would break one of the last significant defenses the enemy had in Africa.

***

Strange covered himself with his overcoat, closed one eye and clicked on his flashlight to check his watch. 18 minutes to sunrise; Almost time for the fun to start. The artillery barrage a few hours ago had taken out a portion of the fort's walls but hadn't done as much damage as he had hoped. He was worried, but confident in the abilities of his men.

As he came back out from under his coat, he looked around him at those gather along the wall if what used to be a storage building for the fort they were about to attack. Each man was checking his gear, making sure the reflective surfaces had all been covered or muted in some way. The fireteam leaders, corporals Norton and Rowley, were double checking their men for the same things.

The two shuffled to Strange. Rowley, the machinegun section leader, whispered first, "All the men are ready to go on your word, boss."

"Good. You know your part. Don't let us down, Rowley."

"We won't, sir. Good luck." Rowley saluted and went back to his team.

Strange moved over to the other two infantry teams with Norton in tow, "Remember, first man to shoot this morning is a dead man. Don't fire unless the enemy does." Those gathered nodded. "And get your bayonets ready. If all goes well, you'll be needing them."

[Werner von Maybach]

Von Maybach was a soldier not a scholar. And if he was absolutely honest, the little more of a year of service in Africa that he now had already lying behind him, had been more than enough to make Werner ardently hate that whole, godforsaken continent. In his opinion, the sun had already burnt everything worthy, leaving only stones, rocks and sand as far as the human eye could reach. After all, Werner didn't give a damn about all those exotic cultures and oriental locales one could discover here anymore. A lot more, he would prefer having a ice- chilled beer, while sitting somewhere in the relaxing shadow of an oak- tree, maybe at the bank of the Elbe river, that was flowing through his hometown Dresden. Things like these, where the things that Werner dreamed of at the moment, but the harsh reality immediately crept back on him, when a stroke of sand got blown into his face by a light gust of wind.

Since weeks, the remnants of the once glorious Afrika- Korps were seeking for shelter in the edges, forts and holes of the Mareth line, here between the Matmata- mountains and the Mediterranean sea. Running short on everything, the soldiers desperately dug their claws into the desert sand, trying to withstand the pure, material overweight of the Allied forces. And additionally, every day the American and British planes appeared above the German's heads like annoying flees, able to fly their turns nearly unopposed by the German Luftwaffe at all.

Looking around himself, Werner sparely could discover the men of his platoon, hiding in the spare cover, that their foxholes granted to them. Behind him, the walls of an old, massive fort- complex rose into the sky. Werner had no idea, who once had built up that fort and which purpose it did serve, but he knew that it was an all too perfect place for a defending force, what of course brought Werner to integrate it into the positions of his men.

About three hours ago, the Americans had shelled the sector with some artillery, tearing down parts of the outside wall of the fort in the process. Luckily, the German soldiers hadn't suffered any casualties by the heavy fire and surprisingly to Werner, no attack on the defensive positions had followed directly after. The other side of the frontline had stayed rather calm all the time, with only the constant noise of war in the background. After the artillery barrage had stopped, Werner's men hadn't stayed inactive. The Unteroffizier had ordered some of them to dig two new, rather deep foxholes between the collapsed parts of the fort's outside wall. Additionally, the soldiers had hastily built up a small wall of sandbags around one of the mg- nests, in the hope that it would provide a bit more shelter in the events up to come.

Finally, the morning hours of the day were arriving now, making the air around the men tangibly warmer. Slowly, the first strokes of sunlight began shining through thin clouds in the east, flooding everything in a mystic, red light. Deep inside his stomach, Werner always had a strange feeling while watching a dawn here in the African desert.

"Passt auf, es wird gleich richtig hell. Ich brauch euch ja nicht zu erzählen was das bedeutet. Und bloß weil der Tommie die Nacht über ruhig geblieben ist, heißt das noch lange nicht, daß er uns den ganzen Tag lang ausruhen lässt. Die MG- Posten bleiben besetzt, höchste Wachsamkeit, aber niemand schießt bevors befohlen wird. Und keiner raucht, Ich muß es mir ja schließlich auch verkneifen.", Werner addressed to the men around him, although he knew that he didn't tell anyone of them some news. All of the soldiers around Werner had already collected their own experiences with combat in the desert terrain and knew all too well, what could await them, once the sun would finally rise. Silently, the men around the Unteroffizier were nodding their heads.

Translations:

"Passt auf, es wird gleich richtig hell. ..."
"Watch out, full sunlight is going to set in soon and I don't need to tell you, what that might mean. Only because the Tommies have stayed rather quiet during the night, that doesn't mean that they'll leave us a lot time to relax during the day. The mg- nests will stay manned, full guard everyone, but no shooting before it's getting ordered. And none smokes, I'll have to deny myself too."

[Jonathan Strange]

Had to change the color of my corporals because they weren't showing up very well.

The clock was ticking and Strange was quickly losing precious few moments of darkness. It was time to get the last pieces into place. Strange found Rowley and Norton in the darkness and signaled for them to move into their pre-assualt positions.

***

Rowley,gathered up his crew and entered the storehouse, making their way back to the staircase and up to the second floor. The team moved to the northwest corner and began to set up. From here they had a slightly elevated view of both gaps in the walls, though they themselves didn't actually know that as the whole fort was just a slightly darker mass in black sea in front of them.

Heffron, the gunner, positioned himself in the northern window looking out toward the eastern fort wall. His Browning was resting on a metal barrel of what he wished was some kind of alcoholic beverage but was more likely something all together less appealing like axel grease. To his left, was Julian, the loader, who was neatly arranging the boxes of ammunition in orderly fashion making sure they were all easily accessible in the dark. To Julian's left, Corporal Rowley was keeping a sharp on the southern portion of the fort. He prayed that none of the German where mixed in the with trees.

"Remember what the Lieutenant said, no shooting until the enemy does. Once they do, though... light the fuckers up. The boys down there are counting on us." The two machinegun men didn't reply to the corporl's whisper, but Rowley knew they where alert and ready.

***

Strange's team moved around the corner just after Rowley's entered the storehouse. They only dashed a short distance toward the ridge, behind laying upon the rather steep incline. They had to carefully crawl up it a foot or so for a decent view of the fort and the surrounding area. They were arranged in a line with the
Strange at the extreme left, and privates Ennis and Drake on the right.

Out of habit and nerves, Strange looked at his watch as Norton and his team shuffled down the ridge behind him. He couldn't make out the hands in the dark. Frowning, he looked out into the western darkness. He had a feeling some of the Germans where in the trees watching him. The feelings made his hairs stand on end. Somewhere out there, someone had him and his men in their sights waiting for the Americans to make a move...

***

Norton, Zimmerman, and Chartier crept along the gradually declining ridge until they came to a point where it was about waist height and stopped. They were nervous and tucked themselves out sight as best as they could while still keeping an eye toward the fort.

"Relax, boys. Heffron and Julian have got our backs. You do your job, they'll do theirs and will all make it out of here alright," whispered the corporal. "Get ready for the El-tee's signal."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Allied Soldiers:

Lieutenant Jonathan Strange
Corporal James Norton
Corporal Ben Rowley
Gunner Edward "Babe" Heffron
Assistant John Julian
Private Ron Chartier
Private Kelly Zimmerman
Private Matt Drake
Private Glenn Ennis

Morale = Anxious

Axis Soldiers:

Unteroffizier Werner Von Maybach
Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf
Stabsgefreiter Karl-Gustav Schleifer
Machine Gunner Michael Wuchtinger
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]

Morale = Skeptical

Actions:

- The Axis soldiers expected to have already been involved in combat, but remain alert, their nerves are not as wound up as they had been.

- The Allied soldiers have a good bit of adrenaline running through them knowing what they are about to do.

- The Allied soldiers were able to move into position without being noticed.

Next Post: Werner

-JT

No Pandora for me this mod.

[Werner von Maybach]

[OOC: As a typical defender-> no map needed. ]

Although anything had really happened by now and the frontline in front of the German positions still seemed as peaceful as if there never had been any war at all, a strange, grueling nervousness came over the men. Directly besides him, Werner could discover Obergrenadier Dahn, who used to hastily take out his canteen every now and then, always only drinking a rather tiny gulp. The belt of ammunitions of the MG 34, that Dahn was responsible for to consistently feed the gun with, orderly lay inside one of the metal ammunitions- boxes besides the machine gun, with the first few bullets snapped into the inlet of the MG. Again and again, Werner had checked all the parts of his weapon, some additional barrels lay besides the MG on a desert- brown colored tarpaulin and the aiming optics of the weapon were sighted directly at the assumed enemy positions. This inferior weapon of destruction, that's cold steel Werner could now feel in his hands, was absolutely ready and waiting to kill whatever would be dumb enough getting into it's aim.

Carefully observing the ridge in the south- east of the fort through the iron sights of the machine- gun, von Maybach still wasn't able to discover anything suspicious. Speaking just as loud, so that everyone of his group would be able to understand, Werner tried to somehow get rid of that nerve- straining silentness. "Männer, dreht jetzt bloss nicht durch hier. Irgendwann kommt der Tommy schon und wenn, dann werden wir Ihn auch gebührend empfangen. Schließlich muß er über diese große, deckungslose Fläche und wir liegen hier gemütlich in unseren halbwegs sicheren Löchern. Also tauschen will ich mit denen jedenfalls nicht." Pausing for a second, the Unteroffizier wanted to give his words enough time to take effect on his soldiers. "Außerdem haben wir auch noch Wuchtinger und Gumpfi mit einem von den neuen MG 42 auf unserer linken Flanke. Und Ich glaub, Ich brauch keinem von euch zu erzählen, wie die Dinger loslegen."

Gumpfi had been the short form for the, way too long name of Obergrenadier Markus Niedergumpfinger, who right now lay next to Michael Wuchtinger behind the second machine- gun of Werner's small Kampfgruppe. The MG 42 was situated on top of one of the undamaged towers belonging to the ancient desert- fort, from where the two men were having an absolutely fantastic line of sight over the upstream area. The two soldiers had their weapon just as perfectly prepared for any kind of situations, as Werner had his own machine- gun, a lesson that the merciless desert- sand had already taught the men a long while ago.

Werner forced himself to smile grimly while he was speaking his last sentence, probably just trying to also convince himself a bit more of his own words. "Ja genau, soll der Tommy doch kommen. Wär auch nicht das erste mal, daß der auch wieder geht.", Stabsgefreiter Schleifer joined in, appearing to be quite more confident now, than he was only a few seconds before. With a pale face, the man stood inside his foxhole, only several meters in front of the sandbag bunker and aimed his carbine into the direction he guessed the enemy to appear from.

Deeply inside himself, Werner knew that the facts he had just tried to raise the morale of the surrounding soldiers with, were actually really true. The defensive positions of his small platoon were kind of ideal to defend and the new MG- type had already proven it's value on more than a few occasions. But still there was some kind of rumbling inside his stomach, a feeling that often had warned the young soldier of approaching dangers. Just with the motive to calm himself down a little by doing finally something at all, Werner carefully rolled himself to the side a bit, so that he was able to lift the binoculars that hung around his neck to his eyes. Surprisingly, the nervousness inside the man did rather rise than calm down, when he slowly observed the enemy side of the front. Strained, Werner moved his view over the small, two- storied storehouse in the south- east of the fort. But only hardly he was even able to recognize the single, dark windows of the building, with no chance to discover anything going on behind them at all.

Still fully concentrated, Werner changed his sights to the low ridge situated north of the storehouse. In the low light, again Werner couldn't discover anything wrong at first, but immediately a cold shiver went down his spine. Just for the smallest part of a second, Werner believed to have seen a short, metallic shimmering, reflecting the rising sun. The effect was gone again within an instant, even so fast, it left Werner quite unsure about what he had just seen at all.

"Ruhe jetzt!", Werner said even more hushed than he had been speaking before, "Da vorn am Abhang hat grad irgendwas gefunkelt. Haltet die Augen offen."

Translations:

"Männer, dreht jetzt bloss nicht durch hier. ..."
"Guys, just don't start getting mad now. Sometime, the Tommy is going to come for sure and then we'll afford them a befitting welcome. They'll have to come over that large, shelterless area and we'll relaxed lie here within our reasonably safe earth- holes. After all, I don't want to swap places with the Yanks for sure."

"Außerdem haben wir auch noch und ... ."
"In addition to that, we do have Wuchtinger and Gumpfi with one of those new MG 42s on our left flank. And I don't think I need to tell anyone of you, how those things cut loose?"

"Ja genau, soll der Tommy doch kommen. ..."
"Yes, absolutely. Shall the Americans try to come, it wouldn't be the first time, that we'll make them leave right directly again."

"Ruhe jetzt!"
"Get quiet now!"

"Da vorn am Abhang hat grad irgendwas gefunkelt. Haltet die Augen offen."
"I think, I just saw something reflecting the light, over there at the ridge. Keep your eyes open."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Allied Soldiers:

Lieutenant Jonathan Strange
Corporal James Norton
Corporal Ben Rowley
Gunner Edward "Babe" Heffron
Assistant John Julian
Private Ron Chartier
Private Kelly Zimmerman
Private Matt Drake
Private Glenn Ennis

Morale = Anxious

Axis Soldiers:

Unteroffizier Werner Von Maybach
Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf
Stabsgefreiter Karl-Gustav Schleifer
Machine Gunner Michael Wuchtinger
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]

Morale = Curious

Actions:

- The Axis soldiers are very curious now given the sudden change of tone by their leader.

- Still no confirmation on what might have been seen.

- The hint of light from the sun has started to appear on the edges of the clouds, the darkness is still very present however.

Next Post: Strange

-JT

[Jonathan Strange]

Phase One
Phase Two
Clean

Strange took a deep breath, picked a spot among the trees in front of him and pulled the trigger. A second later the two men to his right joined in, firing aimlessly in front of them. Their night-vision was totally destroyed but so would that of anyone retaliating and that was the whole point. Swat the hornet's nest and hope they lashed out in anger drawing attention away from the real threat. Besides, his men would only be needing that night-vision for another few minutes...

***

On the right flank, Norton's fire team scrabbled from their hiding spots and began a mad dash across the open desert a few moments after Strange's section began firing. It was terrifying. It was exhilarating. They were scared but they took solace in the fact that anyone that tried to fire on them would soon draw the wrath of the .30 caliber Browning, and hopefully Strange had drawn all eyes away from them in the first place.

Their feet pounded into the sand as their hearts pounded in their chests. It felt like an eternity as they sprinted toward the black mass that was the dark fort, but when they reached it they threw themselves down in the shell craters and took aim and what appeared to be a pile of junk in the middle of the courtyard and fired into it. If it were an enemy, great, if not... well maybe it would be a good distraction for the others on their way...

***

To Strange it seemed as if he'd stopped breathing during the shooting, waiting for some sign that the men on the right had reached their destination. His heart skipped a beat when rifle cracks erupted from near the eastern fort wall.

It was all or nothing, as Strange bellowed out "Forward!" and quickly clawed his way up the ridge wall and out into the open, charging forward toward the trees, the two privates fellow just behind. Strange locked on to a tree, sprinting straight at and and ducking behind the thin tower of wood. He brought himself out from behind it for a moment and fired on the muzzle flashes from some of the fort's inhabitants, before dropping back to reload and take stock of the situation. His rifle may not have been the most powerful thing available but it certainly was easy to reload...

---

I didn't write in the .30 cal firing, or mark such on the map, but it should fire sometime in here...

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Allied Soldiers:

Lieutenant Jonathan Strange
Corporal James Norton
Corporal Ben Rowley
Gunner Edward "Babe" Heffron
Assistant John Julian
Private Ron Chartier
Private Kelly Zimmerman
Private Matt Drake
Private Glenn Ennis

Morale = Adrenaline...to the max! Wondering what to do next.

Axis Soldiers:

Unteroffizier Werner Von Maybach
Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf
Stabsgefreiter Karl-Gustav Schleifer
Machine Gunner Michael Wuchtinger
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]
Obergrenadier [Unnamed]

Morale = Caught off guard, furious and confused

Actions:

- The Allied fire caught almost everyone by surprise, including some of the Allied soldiers themselves. However, as mentioned Corporal Norton took the chance to move his men forward while the moving was good.

- Moving on open ground is never preferred, but the Allies made the move that had to be made and did so with the best possible conditions they could create.

- The Axis forces locked onto the Allied fire shortly after figuring out what was going on all of a sudden. Neither side inflicted any injuries upon one another. The only men not in cover were never intended targets. Their move went unnoticed.

- Then they threw their advantage right out the window. Once they opened up within very close quarters, a German Machine gun (the one in the courtyard) swung around on them and gave them a VERY big hello, the other German Machine gun position was trying to figure out what was going on and fired randomly out toward the southeast unaware Allied soldiers had moved so close to them.

- The Allied men meeting the German MG are all kinds of pinned down.

- The remaining German soldiers in the South were beginning to become very confused but Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf was able to keep the Private focused and in line. They had received no other orders and did not know what exactly was happening so they held fast to their only known objective, cover their section of the line.

- Strange and his men moved next, the majority of the German fire was now elsewhere but once they got close to the trees Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf and the Private with him were able to take small noticed and fired once more.

- Strange and his men were unable to return fire as a few random shots hit a little too close to home, but their position has yet to be pinpointed.

- In all of this no one has been shot, or even grazed oddly enough. Chaos is on the brink of rearing it's ugly head however, given the separate sectors of violence popping up.

- The lone German Corporal is currently unaware of the Allies south of him but is figuring it out given the Sergeant and Private's fire in the direction. Being alone would have bothered a lesser man but his experience has kept a calm head on his shoulders, he is currently not drawing any attention (not shooting) until he figures out his best course of action.

Next Post: Maybach

-JT

[Werner von Maybach]

Shooting off the flares
General firing

Still holding his binoculars up to his eyes, Werner was still observing the ridge and the small building to he south, when all of a sudden, a whole hail of fire erased towards the German held position. Bullets used to fly through the air like angry mosquitoes, creating this one, terrible sound, that used to cause Werner's stomach to tighten. In a sheer reflex, the German drew his head behind the cover of the surrounding sandbags, before he aimed the sights of his Mg for the muzzle flashes, which he could locate rather easy because of the darkness. The position, the enemy fire seemed to occur from, was somewhere behind the southern ridge, so because of the distance, the shots couldn't be very well- aimed at all. But nevertheless, some of Werner's men used to lock into firing their weapons shortly after, prematurely showing off their exact positions to the enemy.

But just in the moment, Werner wanted to angrily order his men to stop the shooting to save up their ammunition for the things up to come, he realized about some dark shadows moving up in the spare cover of the craters to the east. Within seconds, the enemy soldiers opened up fire on the Germans as well, but Werner's mind reacted within an instant only and immediately he swung around his Mg 34 and answered the shots with a short, angry burst of fire. In no time, the enemies disappeared inside the large artillery- shellholes, despairingly searching for at least a hint of cover. In the same time, there started some fighting noise coming from the south of the German positions as well, absolutely completing the chaos for the moment.

After firing another burst of bullets out his machine- gun, Werner shouted as loud as possible, strained trying to drown the noise around him: "Wir haben Tommie's in der Stellung! Haltet die Linie, Feuer auf alles was sich bewegt!" Just before getting back to his Mg, the German grabbed besides him, where he had some equipment stored for the case of an enemy attack. Within seconds, he reached for his flare gun and fired two, lightning red flares into the sky, aimed a small bit to the south- east. So, Werner assumed, the flares would help the German defenders with illuminating the battlefield and proverbial bringing some light into the more than confusing situation. Like glowing, red stars, the two flares used to burst in the darkness. Momentarily, Werner was able to recognize the enemy soldiers to the east. In a sudden flash, he counted the enemy soldiers to be not more than three men, but they were already dangerously close to the fortification. Instantly shooting off another long burst to keep the Allied men pinned to their cover, he recognized in the corner of his eyes, that the second German machine gun was now also setting into the firing. The dark sand around the shell- holes appeared like dancing under the enormous amount of bullets that were banging into the ground.

Besides him, Werner could hear Obergrenadier Thomas Sturm working the bolt of his rifle as fast as the young man could. Sweat ran down his forehead and his eyes showed a febrile glance, when the soldier aimed his carbine at the Allies to the east and shot off another bullet. Still, the enemy wasn't able to move neither forth nor back again. But also, they still were way too close to the Germans and this danger just needed to get eliminated as soon as possible. Releasing his machine gun for another short second, Werner grabbed one of the stick grenades out the small huddle, which he had prepared besides his Mg earlier and sharpened it in no time. Holding the wooden grab in his right hand, he silently mumbled to himself: "21, 22, 23.", before he zestfully threw the live grenade towards the dug in enemies, expectantly waiting for the explosive to detonate.

* * *

All of a sudden, all hell broke loose around the two German men inside the narrow foxhole. Obergrenadier Niedergumpfinger nervously turned his head left and right, wearing a pale and scared expression on his face. Besides him, Unteroffizier Kauf was quite the contrary to the rather unexperienced soldier. While firing single shots off his MP at the muzzle flashes to the south, he spoke to the younger man in a very calm and determined sounding voice: "Bleib mal ruhig Jungchen, noch is ja gar nix passiert. Aber pass auf und bleib hier bei mir." Only a minute later, another series of shots banged into the sand around the cover of the two men, but this time coming from way closer to the south. Just in the same moment, a lightning red flare used to illuminate the whole area south of the old fort, revealing the shapes of three American soldiers, who tried to approach in the cover of the few trees. Almost immediately, the German Sergeant changed the direction of his aims. Releasing a long and angry burst toward the located enemies at the trees, he shouted at the soldier besides him: "So, da sind Sie doch. Jetz heißt es Arsch zusammenkneifen." Understanding within an instant, the younger private aimed the sights of his K98 at the enemy as well and locked into the shooting, emptying his magazine as fast as possible.

* * *

All alone in his narrow, dark foxhole, Karl- Gustav Schleifer still strained observed his surroundings. Although he had heard a lot of fighting noise around him, he hadn't been able to discover what was exactly going on at all. His nerves were strained to the edge, when two German flares used to blast in the dark morning sky, immersing the whole area in a spooky, red light. In the very same moment, he realized about a German Mp 40, that angrily fired towards the few trees to the south. Following his comrades fire, he almost immediately discovered the three Americans, that now where hiding behind those desert- trees. Unhurriedly and calm like a stone, the German corporal placed his carbine on the edge of his foxhole, taking all time to aim his sights at the one American, who had made the mistake to directly run into his line of fire. Slowly releasing his breath before he pulled his finger around the trigger of his rifle, the German released only one single, perfectly aimed shot.

Translations:

"Wir haben Tommies in der Stellung! ..."
"We've got Tommies in our positions! Hold the line, fire on everything that's moving!"

"Bleib mal ruhig Jungchen, noch is ja gar nix passiert. ..."
"Try staying calm boy, by now, nothing has happened at all. But keep alerted and stay here with me."

"So, da sind Sie doch. Jetz heißt es Arsch zusammenkneifen."
"So, there they are. Now it's time to squint your ass."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Allied Soldiers:

Lieutenant Jonathan Strange
Corporal James Norton Dead!
Corporal Ben Rowley
Gunner Edward "Babe" Heffron
Assistant John Julian
Private Ron Chartier Fatally wounded
Private Kelly Zimmerman
Private Matt Drake
Private Glenn Ennis

Morale = The unwounded are holding up, except the guy that probably shit himself twice.

Axis Soldiers:

Unteroffizier Werner Von Maybach
Unteroffizier Rüdiger Kauf
Stabsgefreiter Karl-Gustav Schleifer
Machine Gunner Michael Wuchtinger
Obergrenadier Niedergumpfinger
Obergrenadier Thomas Sturm
Obergrenadier [Unnamed] Minorly wounded

Morale = Morale is on the rise, they fully believe they have seized the upper hand.

Actions:

- The first flare sailed high into the sky before bursting forth with a great bright red light, most every head turned upward due to instinct, there was a fraction of a second where the shooting stopped, but restarted once more without a hitch.

- The three American Soldiers on Norton's team were becoming ever so worried as their world was illuminated, they tried their best to sneak a peak at what was unfolding but never really had the chance as the second German MG opened up on them, hitting the closest American Private in the upper chest, Ron Chartier. He has slumped down with a ruptured lung, without immediate attention he will drown on his own blood.

- Norton knew things were bad for his group and popped up to try and put some fire on the enemy MG in the courtyard, as he did he noticed the German commander hurling a potato masher almost directly at him, without hesitation he threw himself upon the grenade, killing him instantly but saving the life of fellow soldier, Private Glenn Ennis. Ennis himself feels like he is now living a nightmare and is ready to turn and run away at a moments notice.

- The German fire to the south was less effective. Even though they were able to locate the American soldiers, once the flares brightened everyone's world they put their belly's in the sand knowing they would be spotted, they are however pinned, but sustained no casualties, neither did they inflict any.

- The only bit of luck the Americans had was their Gunner team that stayed back, now that the German fire was no longer making them a target they were able to survey what was going on thanks to the flares. They had no shot on any of the German troops without fear of friendly fire, they did however spot the German MG in the tower. They unleashed hell on it knowing they had men close to the same position. Even though they fired a hefty amount of bullets into a well lit up target, that doesn't change the fact that their target was higher elevated and in the tower of an actual castle. The Unnamed German Private took a small hit in his left forearm, not even in and out, just a glancing shot, however use of the arm will be sluggish for the remainder of the battle.

MAP

Next Post: Strange

-JT

[Jonathan Strange]

Tarfu. That was a favourite of Strange's before they'd hit the beaches in Morocco. Things are really fucked up. And that was the thought that shot across his mind as the flare lit up the sky and gunfire erupted from all over the fort. Of particular concern was the distinct sound of three different machine guns. Strange only had one, which meant the enemy was bringing double that firepower to bear on Strange's tiny assualt force.

Nope. Time to go. That was the second thought. "Drake! Zimm! Fall back! I'll keep some fire on them!" The two men were all too ready to get the hell out of the line of fire and the prompted of their officer was all the nudging they needed. Both immedeatly began crawling away toward the house, very careful to present as little a target as possible until something provided better cover.

Strange got to work just as quickly. Fortunatley, flares work both ways illuminating the defending gunmen as equally as it did himself. Zeroing in of the muzzle flashes of the automatic weapon to his left, he centered his sights somewhere near what he thought might be a helmet and squeezed the trigger thrice. The helment disappeared for whatever reason, hit or hiding. Strange took the chance to pluck a grenade off his webbing, pull the pin, and lob it from his prone position in the general direction of that automatic weapon.

Strange watched the grenade bounce in the sand a bit and pushed his face back into the sand before he felt the faint the concussive force of the grenade wash over him. He brought himself back up just in time to see a line of tracers dig into the sand in fron of his intended target. Heffron had his back.

---

The flare was unexpected and blinded the gun crew in the house for a moment. Corporal Rowley was the first one to recover, and directed the machine gun's fire unto the tower just after the enemy crew had openned up. Too little too late, observed Rowley. A grenade had gone off in the northern breach and no one was moving. There was a twinge of pain in Rowley's stomach as he came tried to force himself to terms with what that meant.

Then movement to the south side of the fort caught his eye. Two of his American comrades were slowly making their way back toward the house. Then a grenade went off and they both sprang up sprinting back to safety. Heffron put one more long burst on the tower to cover their retreat before Rowley called for them to change their fire to the Germans just outside the fort.

A third figure sprang up from the trees and sprinted back to the house just as the first two arrived.

"Put some rounds on the North-West tower!" Barked Rowley out the window to the arriving men below. The two complied hitting the ridge and began firing on the tower as Strange made his run to the house.

---

There was nothing but the house in Strange's focus. His entire being was centered on making it back the house, preferably in one peice but that was optional at the this point. His heart has beating in his throat has his feet pounded the sand. The lieutenant literally dove off the ridge to safety, rolling awkwardly across the ground before being abruptly stopped by a wall. It wasn't pleasant but he was alive. That's what mattered.

Staggering to his feet, Strange forced himself back into action shouting up to Rowley's team, "How's Norton's team, Corporal?!"

"Dead." came the curt emotionless reply. The same pain that Rowley felt peirced Strange's gut.

"We're falling back! We can't break them yet! Rowley get your team down here and we'll move out. We'll be back."

This is a retreat.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

It has been quiet some time since this battle had anything happen to it, If I make a mistake please let me know.

RESULTS:

- Maybach VICTORY! 12CP
Kills: 2 (PVT Ron Chartier, CPL James Norton)
Loses: 0
Although you went inactive, you held your ground and forced the enemy retreat.

- Strange DEFEAT 8CP
Kills: 0
Losses: 2 (PVT Ron Chartier, CPL James Norton)
You pushed forward well, especially considering the overly defensive enemy position, but in time it seems it has withstood the test.

-JT