Without concrete information on the whereabouts of Captain Lufthansa and his crew Kreutz had no option for a silent extraction of the crew but would need to sweep the entire town and surrounding fields to discover their location. He ordered Lieutenant Weis to take his two sections to sweep the fields surrounding the town and Lieutenant Rot and his two sections to sweep the buildings of the town. Kreutz decided that his command section with the only machine gun in the force would occupy the Church spire and bring down fire onto any troops moving into the town from the main tommy defence line.
The initial move of these elite paras was carried out in silence and superb skill without anyone seeing what was happening. However on as Kreutz was slowly moving around the outside of the church through the grave yard the local vicar decided to have a little walk around his pleasant little English church. As he turned the corner he was transfixed by the large men of Kreutz’s section moving silently through the grave yard. Kreutz initially tried to remember the English language lessons from his time at Potsdam university to try and pacify the Vicar could not recall anything of use. Instead he decided to spring into action and waved his men forward in a mad rush around the church. Pushing passed the vicar he turned the corner and saw the front doors of the church were open wide he dashed through the door barrelling passed the portly curate blocking the entrance. Once inside the nave Kreutz relaxed he somehow had got into the nave of the church without raising the alarm. However this short movement of relaxation was shattered as the woman walking passed the church started screaming and yelling “Germans, Germans the invasion has started”
A well trained british army unit jog trotted into the centre of the town square to see what had caused this terrible screaming. Lt Rot in the meantime rushed forward to the grave yard wall had decided the game was up and opened up on the tommy section in the square. Regrettably an English civilian was hit in the crossfire which pinned this tommy section in the square.
A tommy armoured car came bursting out of the local garage moving to cover the tommy section in the square. Unbeknownst to the armoured car the Lt Rot’s second section was just infiltrating into the garage and when they heard the engine they burst into action and charged out into the street in an attempt to neutralise the armoured car. However as the armoured car was travelling to quickly (and the umpire had decided these brave paras could not melee with the armoured car or drop grenades into the top) they gave it a couple of bursts to speed it on its way.
Lt Weiss teams in the meantime had scoured the fields to the north west and took up a position at the entrance to the town. The well trained tommies now started their counter attack pouring forth from their defensive line (one element of this intricate defence line also included the local pub !) they moved into the village. One unit took up position on the left of the pub. Another congregated outside the pub in preparation to clearing the centre of town a third moved through the back part of the town using the cover of the surrounding buildings. A forth unit of elite bicycle borne infantry moved on behind the german lines and took up position in a field. A fifth unit the famed Warmington on Sea platoon lead by the famed Captain Manawaring assembled outside the manor house.
The brave and fearless Kreutz knew that to complete the mission successfully he needed to establish a firebase in the church spire. He raced up the ladder into the spire, closely followed by his mg team. On reaching the top and throwing open the trap door he was confronted by two startled tommys operating an advanced device. Thinking quickly he motioned to them with his schmeiser and called hande hoch. After a moments indecision quickly ended by the aperance of the mg crew the two tommys raised their hands. Kreutz’s covered the two tommys while the mg crew hosed down the tommy section in the square.
In the meantime the Tommy attack was developing. The unit to the left of the pub rushed forward to the graveyard wall opposite Lt Rot and bought down fire onto his section. The Section in the town square retreated out of the deadly kill zone. The Pub section deciding that it would be best to keep in cover skirted around the town square through the buildings. A further section was also cautiously moving forward through the back yards on the right of the town. Manawaring had an impromptu inspection of his troops to see if they were ready, while taking some fire from one of Lt weis’s teams. The elite bicycle unit enraged by the attack on Manawaring gunned down half of Weis team.
Kreutz surveyed the surrounding town and saw a Tommy section move to the wall of the graveyard opposite Lt. Rot’s position along with the Mg he hosed down this section forcing it to retire to the pub. Kreutz’s radio operator meanwhile picked up a message from the stranded bomber crew. Lt. Weis team set of to skirt the town and establish contact with the bomber crew. Kreutz meanwhile directed fire onto Manawarings platoon while Rot’s second team secured the square and also put a few rounds into Manawarings platoon.
The tommy attack through the centre of the village was taking shape and bought Lt. Rot’s second team under a furious barrage. The Tommy’s started a barrage from their secret weapon on the top of the church spire. However this was ineffective and only destroyed the roof of the church.
After the Weis linked up with the Bomber crew Kreutz started to withdraw his troops from the village. While withdrawing he over ran the section cowering by the pub and captured another secret weapon.
In recognition of their bravery the Furher awarded Kreutz the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Lts. Rot and weis the Iron Cross first class.
Report filed by Tony M
Rules: Triumph & Tragedy, 28mm WW2 Skirmish.
More Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_t_photos/sets/72157612011680937/
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