Most recent battle

Hi guys, got back from a great battle yesterday It was really fun, I will post an AAR later, I have an idea for how to do a good one. I will post it when I finish it as I am nackered now.

 

Stefan and me fought side-by-side in this battle, we earned the title of "Ritterkreuzanwärter", meaning knight's cross aspirants.

There were some splendid assaults - especially one where we cleared a village. I'm still tired out, mostly because I went to see Lord of the Rings yesterday and have thus had no real sleep since Friday morning.

 

What kind of battle was it? Paintball guns or something? I am a little lost on the subject, having partaken in no reinactments myself of any sort.

 

Looking forward to hearing about this one. By the way, which units fought which? and where?--or should I just be patient and wiat for the sitrep?

 

Who told you that Andreas? I must admit I am going all out for promotion or Iron Cross, hehe. I will work on the aount tonight. Otto, how could I post a photo? I dont have anywhere to upload it to.

 

After Action Report
Lasham Battle on the 12th January 2001

As the Kompanie assembled on the road down which we were to begin our advance with a platoon of the second battle group (1st SS) formed up to our front. There were frequent halts as we moved down the road as the 'brave veterans' of the SBG seemed to check out every tree, bramble clump and rabbit hole. When they finally moved down a fork in the road we halted and prepared to move off alone. As the men checked their weapons the Rottenfuhrer of my section called for volunteers for a highly dangerous skirmishing action. The task was simple in theory; move about 20 meters ahead of the main body of the Kompanie and expose any enemies before they got the rest of the Kompanie. 'The mission will be rather suicidal' the NCO explained as I stepped forward, 'no matter I responded' and maintaining as low a profile as possible in my gear moved across the fork. As the Rottenfuhrer and I moved forward at a cautious pace a movement in the trees to the right caught our eyes. We fell to our knees and watched carefully for any movement. Slowly an American trooper crept forward and then ran over the road obviously, not seeing us. He was in cover before we had a chance to fire and so we moved along the road awaiting some action. Approximately 20 meters further along the road we heard a shot from our left and went down on our knees once again. There was silence as we began to move again, suddenly a figure in a long green jacket and green helmet appeared armed with a sniper rifle, which he aimed ahead of him. He fired a shot but before he could fire another my own rifle spoke twice, sending two rounds his way and scoring a direct hit. A smile spread across my face as he fell, I had just saved the SBG from the embarrassment of a mauling by a loan sniper. Turning to the Rottenfuhrer I signalled that I had got the sniper and we began to move off again.

Again we approached a fork where the road taken by the SBG met ours. I was ordered into the woods to check a bunker for enemies before we moved any further and so carefully moved into the woods. I approached the bunker keeping my rifle aimed at the door, as I moved closer I could see a thick covering of undisturbed brambles and undergrowth over the opening. I moved to the bank above the bunker and looked in the blocked door and deciding it was safe made my way back to the Kompanie. As I approached the road shots rang out behind me so I ran back to the rest of the unit, confirmed they were clear with the section commander and returned to my place in the formation. We moved into the trees in an extended line facing the firing and began to move forward. As we approached a road we took cover behind trees. Half the men covered a few others and myself as we ran into the cover of a woodpile on the opposite side of the road. Next to the woodpile was a house and as the rest of the men aught up with us we began to move around the woodpile and into the village in front of it. By this time the fighting had moved away and we slowly cleared the town. I ran up the ramp into the tower of the central fort of the town and covered the surrounding area, watching for unfriendly movement. After a brief rest while the commanders of our unit decided on the best course of action to take. We moved out of the village and took up defensive positions ahead of a group of the SBG, who were waiting for an attack. We waited behind our cover for a short time and a pair of jeeps eventually appeared to our front, too far ahead to open fire at, they moved around a corner and then all went quiet. I spoke with the section commander and with another member of the Kompanie (by the name of Andreas) volunteered to move up and find out where the enemy had gone. Moved forward, one covering and another running into cover, until we reached the road, the jeeps had gone, we re-joined the section and reported what we had (or rather hadn't seen). The Rottenfuhrer commented that we seemed to be after the Knights cross, I don't think that had occurred to either of us we simply wanted to do our best for the Kompanie. After a short time the orders came to move off and we headed out into the forest.

It had been reported that there was a bridge in our area and so we set out to look for it. We approached a small (but marshy) clearing, which we soon (to our cost) discovered was a minefield. We moved around it and came under fire once again. Advancing slowly down the safe side of the road we successfully took out the few Americans who were firing at us from our left and while 2 section gave cover 3 section moved into the woods towards the final enemy who had taken up position behind a clump of trees and thus was protected from our fire. Creeping through the trees I saw the commander of our section fall, never to rise again. As the men moved forward under fire and taking hits I saw an opportunity to outflank the man who was taking suck a toll on our men. Running around the back of a house that several grenadiers were using for cover I ran up behind the loan Ami and dispatched him at close range. He seemed to be the last enemy in the area and so the opportunity to rest was taken (and gratefully received) as the cover and shelter of a group of woodpiles was used to eat and rest amongst. At this point I was approached by the Rottenfuhrer who was in command of the section, 'how would you like to be section 2IC?' he asked, I accepted gratefully and celebrated with some water from my bottle. It wasn't long before orders came and once again we got ready and moved off into the woods. It seemed another village had been occupied by the Americans and we were to re-take it. We moved off into the woods and took up positions near the town. The MG42 set up position where it could cover the whole town while we moved into the woods and prepared to move. The MG began to fire, we crouched in the trees breathing heavily as a growing cloud of smoke moved across in front of us. Suddenly, the signal for the attack to begin in earnest was given, 2 section vanished into the smoke and began their attack. Though the smoke obscured our view partially, we could see them pinned down by a building. There was only one way to save the assault and bring victory to Kompanie 1. 1 Section was ordered into the fray, beginning at the back of the section I watched as we moved forward rapidly towards 2 section, still hiding behind the building, we moved around the ruin and cleared the inside. The time then came to move on the enemy inside the town, beginning with a bunker on the outskirts. A group of four men, the Rottenfuhrer, myself, Andreas and Richard (a Dutch freiwilligan who had been attached to us) ran towards the entrance firing from the hip wailing and screaming like banshees. As I ran around the back of the bunker I noticed the chimney, but it was too late! A loan American appeared like a jack-in-a-box and fired at me, the force of the blow propelled me backwards as I saw the Yank cut down by fire from the rest of the section. I made my way back to the building and discovered it was only a flesh wound, after being patched up by a medic I returned to the fray. I ran towards a building behind which several kameraden were taking cover, peering around the opposite side I saw an American vanish behind another building next to which a loan grenadier was hiding. I yelled out to him a warning but as he looked at me the American moved around the building, wasting no time I squeezed off two shots catching the unfortunate yank by surprise and killing him instantly. Running to the building he had appeared around I stepped out around the other side to see an American trooper grinning and pointing a Tommy gun at me. 'This is it' I thought as he squeezed the trigger, but the smile vanished from his face as he hared the click. I brought my rifle up and fired, felling the American and then ran for the building he had apparently come out of. I saw a clear run to the fort in the centre of the town. Charging towards the firing slit I saw an American firing in the opposite direction, sliding my rifle through I fired at his head from point blank range. He fell as a group of SBG grenadiers came out of the trees to my front and our troops began mopping up the last pockets of resistance. We re-organised the section and took a brief rest before orders came to move out and attack the bridge.

We moved up to a point at which the forest ended and a field began. 2 section was sent along the field to outflank the bridge while we moved up through the forest. as we moved forward we came under fire, my fire team appeared to vanish leaving 3 grenadiers, myself included, approaching the bridge from the side. We came under fire from our right flank but that was rapidly dealt with. I watched as the 2 other grenadiers got pinned and decided to move forward alone in the hope the would follow. I ran 10 meters ahead of them and took cover behind a tree, then fired at the bridge while the other grenadiers followed me. We laid down some fire on the bridge while the rest of the section moved forward. The side nearest us was swept clear of allies while some fired from behind, I ran forward to the side of the bridge and moved under it, I saw a British officer hiding behind a pair of jeeps pinning several grenadiers down. Leaping to my feet I charged around behind the jeep and took him and transport as prisoners. By this time our attack was complete, we were victorious though the ground was strewn with dead and wounded. As I stood atop the bridge and looked about I saw members of the SBG running towards me obviously they had received the order too late. Personally I think we did ok without them. It had been a good day, we had conducted several actions, all-successful with minimal casualties. Kompanie 1 had performed well under difficult circumstances. Upon our return to base our commanders congratulated us. I received my long awaited promotion to 'obergrenadier' to mark my 6 months of combat service. That was the end of a great battle and more over, a great victory for the men of Kompanie 1.

 

I want to add a couple of things to that, firstly we were using blank ammo during the battle, no one really died, but you all know that. When i shot the yank in the fort I placed my rifle through the window aimed just away from him and yelled 'your dead' he seemed to be wearing some kind of bullet proof head gear and so was totally protected from what would have been a shot at point blank range, he took out his pistol and shot me in the face. I should have complained about that really but couldent be bothered. Anyway he didnt die. There wasnt actually a mine field, we just found ourselves in an area that was off limits and so had to move out of it ASAP. Our section commander wasnt killed, he went home at lunch, we went to the car park to get food, drinks and arrange for the allies to show themselves occaisionally so taht we didnt spend the afternoon ambling around the woods. Finally, I recieved my promotion for attending 50% of events, originally it was awarded for 6 months service but it seems more appropriate for re-enactors to be awarded it for attending half the events in the year, works out as about the same thing. Anyway, thats about it, let me know what you think. I have used quite a bit of artistic lisence in this but I wanted it to seem more like a report of an actual battle than a re-enactment, I may try to modify the other one I did and eventualy have a series of short stories. Anyway, thanks for your attention,
Stefan

 

come on, someone must have read it, pleeeeaaaassseee

 

Stefan congrats on getting the sniper. Sounds like you had a good battle, I had one last weekend and I'll write about it soon. Also if you want to see pictures from my last battle check out my unit's new website www.2ndpanzerdivision.com go to photos and leaf river 2002 I'm the crazy with the schrek and with a belt of bullets around my neck.

 

cool, I know the story is a bit of an ego trip, but I was just feeling very chuffed with myself . IT was a good battle, I will check out the pics soon.

 

Here's my after action report. I know I'm real late but I haven't had time to write it.

It was early in the morning the sun had not come up yet. Slowly we began to wake. Soon everyone was up and preparing for the day to come. After brushing my teeth by a well I began to button my tunic and get my fieldgear on. (I don't want to bore you with all the details of waking up and getting ready, as I know it is far from exciting.)

All the members of my zug got into formation. We were going to lead the column on the attack. We marched out past some cabins and down a narrow path on the steep hill. When the column reached an area far back in the woods along the river we spread out and discussed our plan. Our gruppenfuhrer decided to send to men to recon the american positions ahead of us. After a few minutes our scouts returned and we found out the enemy only had a thin skrimish line infront of us.

My unit advanced on the left flank with the 352nd in the center and the 9th SS on the right. We were advanced thru some underbrush and the lead members of our advance began to get hit by snipers. So my squad cut to the right to avoid them as this would delay us and effect the attack of the other units.

Suddenly the american infantry opened up on us. Our gruppenfuhrer yelled "angriff" and we jumped up and advanced onto their positions. A good porition of our men were hit during the attack. So me and two fellow grenadieres attacked the last enemy position in their defences by charging with stick grenades, while some of the 9th SS tried to pin them down with rifle fire. Our attack took them by surprize. They were horrifed to see us coming out of nowhere screaming and throwing grenades at them. In just a matter of seconds we had finished them off. None of us had been hit either. My head began to fill with thoughts of the iron cross for our gallant charge had kept the attack from coming to a halt. Quickly these thoughts were pushed out of my head for we had to regroup and continue the advance before they could fortify their next positions.

Again we sent out scouts to check on the enemy positions ahead of us. It seemed that there were a few of them dug in around the base of the hill and there man force was on the top of the hill and blocking the path next to it and the river.

We deployed in a skrimish line in hopes of a quick sweeping attack that would keep them off balance and run them over the hill. Our advanced was slowed down by thick growths in the woods infront of us. When we finall started to get through it the enemy began to open up with rifle fire. We had to attack head on because of the river on our right flank and on our left (which I was pretty much on the end of)the hill there had kinda turned into a cliff. As we ran into the enemy fire many men began to drop down, but the rest of us still pressed on because if we stalled we would be shot up with out cover infront of the enemy. We over ran the enemy positions at the base of the hill. But as soon as we did the americans opened up with a hiddem machine gun from the top of the hill. Instantly they began to murder our forces. Instead of running back and most likely getting shot I decided to run to the hill were it was to steep for them to fire on me. I ran up there with all my speed and lunged down to the ground for cover. I looked back and our attack was stalled there were only to other grenadiere's at the base of the hill. The rest of them were mowed down by the GI 30 cal. or regrouping for another attack. I decided to crawl my way up toward the machine gun position. I had 2 stick grenades in my belt. When I got with in 15 feet of it. They started firing, at first I thought they saw me, but I looked back and saw my zug attacking again. I knew I had to take out the position or most of them would be killed. I threw my first grenade up at them it land infront of there position. It didn't destroy them but the blast oscured their view long enough for some more men to make it to the cover on the slope of the hill. Again I threw my last stick grenade at them. It landed to the right of them, but still allowed more men to make it onto the hill. Out of the corner of my right eye I saw two GIs coming up onto the side of the hill. They would be able to pick us off the hill. I lifted up my rifle and fired. The first one fell and the other one ran back. I fired again, but he had run away already. Now with most of our men on the hill we all began throwing grenades at them and we finally took them out. Now with us on top of the hill we could fire down on the enemy below us and they knew that so the retreated even farther.

Well I don't have time to finish right now, so I guess thats just part onee. Hopefully I'll get it done this weekend.

 

Sadly I couldn't make it to that event.