The Taking Of Bastogne

[William Luther]

Cold didn't even begin to describe how this winter had been. Thankfully, it was beginning to thaw out, the Ardennes becoming slightly more habitable, but certainly not comfortable. The raw concrete of the small bunker Sturmscharfuhrer Luther sat in was bitterly cold, knawing at him through his thick SS-issue Parka, he had the Autumn pattern out showing, instead of the plain white pattern of the inside. He pulled his helmet off and adjusted the camouflaged cover, before replacing it.

He reached out in the half-light given by the unusually bright stars and moon, and tapped his Panzerschreck. It was empty, as per safety drills, and lying on the ground next to him. Either side of him was a Private. The pair of them each had five rockets on a canvas rucksack on there backs. He looked to the opposite side of the room, where the radio operator twisted a few knobs on his radio and spoke briefly, securing a connection before giving Luther a thumbs-up. The third Private in the room was just inside the door, and a fourth lay outside in a small circle he had dug out of the snow, the powdery substance layered up in front of him to create a small berm.

A few dozen meters to the East of them, Corporal Frankfurter had three Privates and a Sapper with him, the men all sat around there bunker, waiting. They knew an enemy counter-attack was approaching, so it was all they could do - sit and wait. They had a good position; they just needed to make sure they took full advantage of it. Patience was a deadly weapon. They carefully made sure weapons were readily available as they jammed hands in pockets, in armpits to try and preserve warmth against the ever present cold. The Corporal ran his finger along a crack in the concrete from where the building had been hit, but it still held most of its strength, showing the quality of these defences. The doors and windows were closed tight to try and keep more warmth in, although a draught still made its way around the edges and cracks. Still, it kept the soldiers happy knowing the enemy would be in a much worse and uncomfortable position.

Map

[rspeirs]

img4.imageshack.us/img4/4083/bastogne.jpg
Black-Speirs
Green-Cpl
Blue-Private
Pink-30. Cal Gunner
Red-Gunner Assistant


“How long have we been in this hell hole called Belgium?” Private Hartstock sneered at private Jasper. “I don’t know” Jasper replied. “I lost count after our meager Christmas meal.” 1st Sergeant Ronald Spears walked by them, he placed a map in the middle of the squad of men, ten in total. The map was an outline of the town of Bourcy, Belgium, which lay to the direct Northwest of Bastogne. Prior to this night, the 101st Airborne had seized Foy and the Bois De Jaques woods. Now, it was the 4th Armored Division’s, under Lt. Colonel Creighton Abrams, with support from the 3ID, turn. Speirs placed the map on the floor of the abandoned school house, which sat to the South of the town. The floor was cold and lifeless, and had scattered debris from Allied shelling on the area. Speirs whispered to his men, saying “Gather round. We need to preserve what little light we have.” Speirs then began outlining a detailed plan to his men, giving each and every single one of them a specific job. Speirs then said to them in a stern tone, “We win here today, and we might be home to our wives soon, boys.”

Speirs then proceeded to Corporal Johnathan Daniels. He placed his hand on Daniels shoulder, saying “I am going to place you in command of the soldiers on the left flank. I have complete confidence in you, Daniels; you are a damn fine soldier.” Daniels let out a smile, which was barely visible in the darkness of the school house. “Thanks Sarge” Daniels said in reply, but his response was laced with anxiety. Speirs nodded and walked away. As he walked, Speirs checked his supply belt, which was secure around his waist. He had one Frag grenade, and he had one smoke grenade, which he wasn’t sure how useful it would be in the darkness of the night. He also had his trusted M1A1 Thompson by his side, as well as a pair of binoculars. He was ready, and he knew the Krauts were.

Speirs then took his place in the middle of the circle of his men once more. He knew this would be a tough battle, and he decided to give them a speech to rally them before hand. Speirs began in a serious tone, saying “Boys, I have known some of you since the beginning of this war. Others, I have met along the way. You are all fine soldiers, and you are all worthy of my respect and admiration. Today, Lieutenant Colonel Creighton Abrams has endowed the task of taking Bourcy, Belgium upon your shoulders. It will not be an easy task. This town is the far left of the Kraut flank, and is defended by the Waffen SS Second Division, as intelligence has pointed out. They are damn fine soldiers, but they aren’t as fine as you. I have faith that we can win today. I have faith in each and every single one of you. All I ask is that you have faith in me as a commander. Tonight, we will become a renown group of soldiers. Tonight, we show these Krauts why the Rock of the Marne leads the infantry. Understood?” Speirs looked at each and every single one of his men, who replied back to him with a nod of the head. Speirs nodded back and said in reply, “Right then, take your positions.”

Speirs paced the hallway as each one of the men took a position at a window. They opened the windows quietly, as to make sure no broken glass would shatter, preventing any unneeded injury to the men. Speirs was satisfied as to where the men were, and he whispered one more order while it was still quiet, saying “Anything that moves, fill with bullets. Don’t leave a single Kraut standing—The Black flag.” Speirs then took his position at the center, ready to give his men orders. Ron took the crucifix medallion that was hidden under his uniform and kissed it, saying with acceptance “Lord, watch over us tonight.”

[William Luther]

Private Faber strained his ears in his foxhole. Yes, he could make out vague talking in the distance, speaking English. Suddenly, far on his flank, maybe a few hundred meters to the West, he heard fire begin – the American attack must have started. He carefully climbed from his hole and, stooped over, moved in to Luther’s building. ”Sie kommen.”

Luther nodded, ”O.k.. Miles, gehen Sie zum Schützenloch, Faber hinein, in dem Sie hier für ein bisschen sitzen können. Faust, nennen Sie Schneider, sagen Sie ihm, die Reserven zu unserem Zeichen hochzuschieben.” The bunker turned in to a hive of silent activity. Private Stempf pulled a rocket from his pack and loaded the Panzerschreck, cocking the weapon and tapping Luther on the shoulder and confirming it had been done. Faust, knowing he needed to ensure the call was a success, grabbed the larger antennae for the radio, essentially two long wires to be hoisted in the air to give a better signal. He passed the two ends through the window, and moved out of the door, signalling Faber to follow him. Quickly, they threw the weighted ends of the antennae over the corners of the building to get them off the ground before scurrying back inside.

” Ypres Drei, Martha Ein. Feindliche sich nähernde Soldaten, bringen Sie Verstärkungen heran. Wiederholen. Ypres Drei, Martha Ein. Feindliche sich nähernde Soldaten, bringen Sie Verstärkungen heran. Bestätigen Sie.” Being a fixed defensive position, earlier in the day, all of the units and there callsigns had been recorded on a large map at Headquarters, and just hearing the callsign would be enough for them to know where to send reinforcements to. Faust kept the headset up to his ear; he would be repeating the call every thirty seconds until he received a confirmation message. Luther stood up by the window, and pushed it open. He looked around, before spotting Stempf. ” Stempf, gehen Sie zum Unteroffizier, alarmieren Sie ihn. Was für Sie sicherstellen, dass Sie nicht anfangen zu schwitzen!”

The Private gave a quick confirmation before moving out of the door and moving at a brisk pace to the other defences in the sector. From experience, they all knew what sweat could do to you in the freezing conditions, turning in to ice on your skin. He soon arrived, and quickly explained the situation, before a replacement was sent over to replace Luther’s contingent. The Corporal quickly rallied the men, and they ran out, snow crunching underfoot and moved in to the large building in front of them, quickly entering through the back door and crouching down in the centre of the room, pushing close to each other’s backs as they formed an outward facing hedgehog of weaponry, trying to share body warmth, as they listened for the movement of the enemy, and waiting for the Corporal’s orders to move to the windows. One Private, Beike, stood by the window, watching carefully for a flanking manoeuvre.

Translations

Sie kommen. – They’re coming
O.k.. Meilen, gehen Sie zum Schützenloch, Faber hinein, in dem Sie hier für ein bisschen sitzen können. Faust, nennen Sie Schneider, sagen Sie ihm, die Reserven zu unserem Zeichen hochzuschieben. - Okay. Miles, go in to the foxhole, Faber you can sit in here for a bit. Faust, call Schneider, tell him to push up the reserves to our mark.

Ypres Drei, Martha Ein. Feindliche sich nähernde Soldaten, bringen Sie Verstärkungen heran. Wiederholen. Ypres Drei, Martha Ein. Feindliche sich nähernde Soldaten, bringen Sie Verstärkungen heran. Bestätigen Sie. - Ypres Three, Martha One. Enemy soldiers approaching, move up reinforcements. Repeat. Ypres Three, Martha One. Enemy soldiers approaching, move up reinforcements. Confirm, over.

Stempf, gehen Sie zum Unteroffizier, alarmieren Sie ihn. Was für Sie sicherstellen, dass Sie nicht anfangen zu schwitzen! - Stempf, go to the Corporal, alert him. Whatever you do, though, make sure you don't start sweating

Clean
Movement

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Ok, can you guys please change the icons on your maps. Right now you are showing your men as pretty much the same size as the trees. Also Ryan when you make your next map will you please add your icons to the legend, I've done so on my map if you would like to just work from it, thanks guys.

The following actions have been made:

- First off, vague talking...yet you could tell it was English? Not gonna fly...but I'll give you the vague talking part. Ryan you never said that your men were whispering

- The Americans being the more prepared for enemy movement (they did have their windows open after all) were able to spot the German man as he finished up his quick scurry. They watched and waited and were in turn ready for the Axis forces that shortly after poured out of the front door of the building. Having been under orders to fill their targets with bullets...they attempted to do so.

- The Axis forces in the west were able to start their move easily enough, but with the bright moon (as Luther stated) reflecting back on the snowy ground, silhouettes aren't easy to miss when you are looking for them.

- A hail of gunfire erupted from the western side of the American positions startling the Germans although they had been hearing gunfire for a little bit, this was the first instance of it being so close. One PVT was killed outright, one behind him taking a round in his lower abdomen, more or less rendering him useless, and the ENG received a large gash across the front of his right thigh, not lethal but walking/running/anything he needs his legs for will be painful.

- Erik and his men were able to be contacted on the fourth attempt...which will actually take place either at the end of Ryan's post or the beginning of Luther's, I'll let you know which in my next mod mark and the outcome of said radio call.

img697.imageshack.us/img697/8104/bastogne1.png

Next Post: Speirs

-JT

[rspeirs]

The silence of the cold, Belgian night soon gave way to gunfire. Private Jasper and Hartstock had sighted a Kraut in the distance, and both of them unloaded hot led into him. Once they did, the whole squad soon began firing in unison. Speirs smiled, as he knew his men were following his orders to a T. The cries of Germans as they fell with bullet wounds only added to Speirs’ happiness. The firing however, did not last long, as the Germans moved out of the line of sight of Speirs’ men rather quickly. Speirs was perplexed at the maneuver by the Krauts. They were not waiting for Speirs to launch an offensive. Instead, they had taken the initiative. That hatched an idea for Speirs, and he quickly went down the line giving orders to his men.

Speirs used this small lull in the battle to relay a few orders to his men. Speirs walked over to Randleman, and in a whisper he told him to move to the window pane in front of Corporal Daniels. Speirs then walked down to Daniels and moved his hand to Daniels’ back. Daniel’s looked back at his squad leader, and Speirs whispered to him “Move down as far as you can on the right flank. Watch the west for a flanking maneuver by the Krauts.” Daniels nodded and took his position as to where Speirs asked. Speirs then walked down the McCall and Pettigrew, who were the far left flank. “Pettigrew” Speirs whispered. “Can you move down a foot or two?” Pettigrew quickly responded to Speirs order and moved a pace or two. “Alright, good.” Speirs whispered in affirmation. “McCall, move down a window.” Speirs whispered to the other private standing at Pettigrew’s side, and McCall quickly took action and moved down a window. “Alright, good” Speirs whispered once more in affirmation. “Be Ready Boys” he whispered. Whispering once more, Speirs gave his men one last order, saying in a whisper. “The enemy is upon us now—listen closely for the opening of windows, the shattering of glass, or the crunching of snow and watch closely for any movement, and fire at your own will.” He then moved to the right flank and gave the men the same order.

Speirs once again took a position in the middle of the school building. From here, he had an ample position to relay orders to both of his flanks, and if need be, lead an offensive or aid one flank in the case of a flanking maneuver by the enemy. Speirs thought to himself that the enemy movements were peculiar, yet familiar. He had seen them before—In Holland! This was the 2nd SS Division, Speirs knew. He knew how tough these soldiers were and how relentless they were in their assault. Speirs figured that he would have to hold his ground. To move out into the open would be suicide. He did not know how many Krauts were guarding Bourcy, but he did know that there were probably more ready to reinforce this unit. It was a premonition of Speirs’. He did not know for sure, but he knew the Krauts would do anything to defend their eastern flank of Bastogne, especially after losing Foy and the Bois Jaques Woods. Speirs however, did not care how many men they brought. For nothing, he thought, could beat his boys.

Map with movements
img707.imageshack.us/img707/8104/bastogne1.png

Clean Map with Line of Sight
img109.imageshack.us/img109/3809/bastognelineofsight.png

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

The following actions have been made:

- Guess what, firing a bunch of rounds from inside a building has an odd way of killing your hearing temporarily...after noticing no one was responding to his orders Speirs reverted to hand signals...the process took a tad bit longer, but at least it was done.

- Given this post would not have taken much time my next mod will reveal the outcome of reinforcements

Next Post: Luther

-JT

[William Luther]

MG fire tore through the night, causing Luther to flinch at the broken silence. He heard a few cries of pain, followed by a large crunch in the sand, he heard a few shouts, and he realised somebody had been hit. There wasn't much he could do from his position, he just turned and shouted at the radio man, "Do you have a message yet?"

Sapper Wogel took a sharp breath at his wound, as the Corporal bent down next to him, wielding a bandage. Wogel sat in the corner, his MP40 held tightly as the bandage was tied tightly around his leg to stop the bleeding. That was the most important thing to do in the situation. He grunted one last time as the bandage was knotted tightly, before flexing his leg experimentally. It wasn't too bad.

To the north, the two Privates were worried, but they didn't have time to panic, not with an abdominal wound. "We need to get you inside," said the unwounded Dresner, "Come on, I'll help." He looped one arm around his comrade, and lifted him, and started half carrying, half dragging his legs towards the shelter of the building. If he left him to lie on the snow, he'd die quickly, and there wasn't much he could do to help.

After a few moments of struggling, he kicked the door open, and gently placed his comrade down, before grabbing a bandage from his belt. He unwrapped it from the plastic packaging, and began wrapping it around his comrade. Luckily, there was only one wound, so that would make it easier as he bunched up the shirt of the shoulder for extra padding over the wound and pulled the bandage tight, ignoring the moan of pain because of the motion. They just needed support to arrive, and soon!

EDIT: Fixed Map img4.imageshack.us/img4/4788/bastogne1z.png

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

The following actions have been made:

- The man on the radio held up one hand as Luther asked on the status of the call while he was listening to it. "Sarge, they said they will send a small contingent split off the main support force, they can't spare much but it will be here in less than one half hour. The rest has already been allocated elsewhere."

- Bandaging both wounds has reduced the chances of immediate serious issues with both wounded. Moving the man with the abdominal injury inside was also the best idea, he is in the worst shape of the too by far, but also not in immediate danger yet, time is not on his side.

- Support forces will arrive in approximately 2 posting rounds, depending on the actions made, I'll make the final call when the time comes depending on how long the actions made would take by estimation.

-JT

[rspeirs]

The cold was beginning to take effect of Speirs’ body. He could no longer feel his own face, and now, Speirs began to wonder when the Krauts would begin moving. This stalemate could not go on forever, or could it? He knew that eventually the Krauts would have to do something to rattle his men.

Speirs walked down the long line of men, giving them all a hand signal—moving the palm of his hand downward, telling his men to crouch. He wanted them to present little a target as possible to the Krauts. He knew that eventually, something would give, whether it would be reinforcements or a Kraut offensive, and at that time, his men would be ready to counter attack. Speirs was now on the right flank of his men. He gripped his Thompson tightly within the palm of his right hand and whispered an order to his men, saying in a low tone, “Stay Frosty—If you hear anything that might be a Kraut—the crunching of snow, German dialect, or the motor of a halftrack, fire in its direction.” Speirs’ men nodded in affirmation of his order.

Speirs then moved to the left flank. Corporal Daniels gave a glancing look at his commanding NCO. Speirs nodded back and said to him in a whisper “Keep your eyes sharp, Daniels. That flanking maneuver will most likely come from the west. Stay frosty now—fire at the slightest movement or sound. Don’t let a Kraut passed you. That goes for you too, Heffron and Julian. You hear Krauts, let loose with that 30 Cal.”

Speirs now felt comfortable. He stood in the middle of school building, ready for an all out battle.

img4.imageshack.us/img4/4788/bastogne1z.png

[William Luther]

Luther nodded to himself, deciding it was the right time to knock this shit up a notch. He plucked a smoke grenade from his belt, and crawled over to Pvt Schtriffer, placing in his cold hands. ”Werfen Sie das, wenn wir anfangen, uns dann zu bewegen, sobald wir den 'Schreck anzünden, jeden sonst veranlassen anzufangen, zu schießen und das Fenster herauszukommen und uns uns anzuschließen.”

Schtriffer nodded, and Luther crawled along the floor with both his weapons, signalling Wolfgang to follow him. He leant the heavy Panzerschreck against the wall, and climbed out the window, having Wolfgang pass it back to him once he was standing on the other side, and helping the Private through with his harness of rockets. There was a definite change in temperature outside, and they began moving straight away. They heard a gentle hiss as a smoke grenade was thrown, Schtriffer having pulled the pin before stepping outside, throwing it with all his strength towards the enemy before darting back inside.

He held the Panzerschreck tightly against his chest, pinning his slung MP40. The pair moved quickly through the snow, before stopping. Wolfgang dropped down, raising his rifle for covering fire, and Luther shouldered the weapon, looking through the large blast shield mounted on the front. He knew the weapon was loaded, and he slowly moved forward, until he could see a good portion of the enemy building. He quickly crouched down, and steadied himself. He slowly breathed out, and squeezed the trigger, feeling the large backwash heat his back before disappearing quickly. He span and ran back to Wolfgang, putting the weapon down where the hot barrel quickly melted through a few centimetres of snow, and pulled his MP40 up, resting his elbows on his legs as he crouched and leant against the building, aiming towards the enemy location whilst Wolfgang reloaded.

To the north, Schtriffer began firing through the smoke with his 98k. Dresner and the wounded Beike quickly took this chance to move, pushing through to Frankfurter and his men, safety in numbers and all that. They didn’t have any morphine, but even if they did they wouldn’t use it. In the cold, they didn’t want the men losing consciousness, pain helped them stay awake. And if they were screaming they were definitely breathing. Schtriffer took the chance to pull himself away from the door, and follow Luther’s pass, and run over towards the Panzerschreck and dropped down to his knees aiming along his rifle.

Dresner grabbed the engineer’s MP40 and ammunition, swapping them with his 98k and moved over to the North-Eastern window, crouching down ready in case a flank came.

Translations

Werfen Sie das, wenn wir anfangen, uns dann zu bewegen, sobald wir den 'Schreck anzünden, jeden sonst veranlassen anzufangen, zu schießen und das Fenster herauszukommen und uns uns anzuschließen. - Throw this when we start moving, then, once we fire the 'Schreck, get everyone else to start firing and come out the window and join us.

img693.imageshack.us/i/bastognemove.png/
img192.imageshack.us/i/bastogne.png/

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

The following actions have been made:

- Luther doesn't own a smoke grenade!

- Not that it really mattered, the men moving in the North West would have only been visible for a few short moments and in the heat of battle, with very low temperatures and not the best visibility they still were able to execute their move unseen by the opposing forces.

- The wounded soldier and his companion in the north were able to link up with the rest of their teammates in the center of the map with very little delay, their morale has been boosted now that they are part of a larger group, however the wounds will continue to be an issue.

- The rocket from the Panzershreck impacted slightly to the right, Luther felt that trying to sneak an explosive rocket past a building corner right in front of him wasn't the best idea. There wasn't a lot of difference in the intended outcome though.

- The round impacted into the concrete wall of the building right before it detonated spewing obliteration onto the all too close Corporal (He is all kinds of dead)

- The American Private on the opposite side of the interior wall fell back hard landing himself a concussion, he isn't unconscious, but he is in a daze and will begin vomiting shortly.

- The rest of the American forces were shaken by this sudden attack on their location, most of them stumbling to the ground, but getting back up within a few seconds, they all pretty much have extreme headaches from the intense pressure change in the building given off by the detonation, the fact that the windows were open saved a couple of lives actually, this allowed the pressure to escape instead of rupturing everyone's ear-drums and causing brain damage to a few.

- The Americans answered back with wave after wave of sporadic fire in many different directions, this caused Schtriffer to abandon the idea of taking a few blind shots and under the heavy volume of fire he has remained in the northern building. The retaliation fire has caused no injuries, but it did manage to keep all enemy forces from moving almost any.

- After the stray rounds died down Dressner was easily able to swap out weapons with the ENG (Luther please note this in your next legend)

Next Post: Speirs
(Please change the status of the CPL and the western most PVT, the CPL being dead and the PVT being wounded)

-JT

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

Ryan (Speirs) sent me a PM to inform me that he will no longer be able to be a member of the site. He knew his return would be brief and that he hoped he would have been able to stay but things are just too busy for him, RPing here was more of a chore than a hobby and he has asked that I have him retreat from the battle and have his character honorably discharged from the 3ID and his men to be dispersed throughout the unit. So this will be the end of this battle Luther you will have earned a win and an NPC kill.

If any staff member would like a copy of the PM from Speirs for confirmation please feel free to ask and I will forward a copy to you.

The following are the battle stats

LUTHER - VICTORY! - 1 kill/1 loss (PVT)

Although the battle was cut short, once your men were hit you did what you could to keep them safe while continuing the fight. - 16CP

SPEIRS - DEFEAT! - 1 kill/1 loss (CPL)

I can't be all nice just because you have to leave. You retreated form a battle very earlier, luckily you did not leave a teammate hanging in the process. - 9CP

(Gonna miss ya Ryan)
-JT