Tucker continues to scan the starboard side for threats/targets to the tug.

Tucker
Starboard Dushka
Scanning for hostiles

In reply to Griet Niewiadomska (msg #905):

"This is Starlight. Three plus two stretchers. Over."
Anneka intended to send the horses and mortar directly back to town while the remainder transfered onto the tug. With a priority placed on mounting the Mark 19, they'd be able, she hoped, to once again support the action on the eastern side of the river.

Tom watched the small assault force finish their task from his vantage point on the roof. He scans further out watching for movement in the surrounding trees he also glances behind his position keeping an eye out for any more flanking manoeuvres from the pirates.

The climb onto the roof had been a little hairy with all the ice, but once in position he had kicked through the tiles and was now standing on what was probably one of the trusses that holds up the battens for the tiles. Maybe that Green Jacket Lieutenant wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He changes out the RPK’s magazine for a fresh one and waits for orders to move or targets to engage.



Tom Jones
RPK-74 (45/45)
Scanning for targets, will engage with 5 round bursts
Roof of left hand house

Mariusz bent down to strip the bodies of anything he could find quickly, he sadi to Stoner, "I've got a radio here, do you want a sitrep from the Queen?"

Mariusz
Looting with abandon

"Roger that Major, two casualties to evac." Griet yelled down at the gunners by the AT gun, "Prepare to come with me to pick up casualties."

She called down the voice tube, "Sick bay, bring up two stretchers." She hoped that the engine room had sent someone up there or she was talking to herself.

"Adam, when Dawid gives you the all clear, take us to the left bank, I'll see to tne launch." She left the wheel house and as she headed to the rowboat she said to Dawid, "I'm going for the wounded, as soon as you're out of ammo, call Adam and he'll head for the bank. While I'm ashore, you have operational command."

Dawid was a little surprised when they ran short, by his count there should have been four rounds, but it appeared in the excitement they only had three fragmentation left. Oh well, either they were on target or they weren't and one shell more or less wouldn't change that.

"Griet, I am done! You are free to move! Anyone see those mortar boats, or where they might have more 82mm shells stored?"

"Get down into cover, boys, and keep a sharp lookout. We still have armed enemies around here that want to fight, for some reason."

With that, he got down behind cover and readied his own Tantal.

Tarpan-Honker Group

Having readied one of the VX gas shells for detonation, Minh rises to a crouch and heads back to the Tarpan-Honker to recover her blasting gear. In the process, she draws a good deal of the enemy fire zipping in from the northwest. She passes one of the as-yet unwounded militiamen as he drags Wicks to the east side of the road. The last unwounded miltiaman lifts the third VX shell from the bed of the Tarpan-Honker and turns to lug it to the south. As he does so, a bullet catches him in the stomach and he doubles over, falling to the asphalt along with the heavy 155mm VX shell.

Konrad takes advantage of the enemy's preoccupation with Minh and the militiaman and reaches up to unlatch the AGS-17. It comes loose and falls into the bed of the Tarpan-Honker.

Konrad's smoke is helping a little by obscurring the LOS of the PKM gunner aboard the withdrawing PTS-M, but most of the Tarpan-Honker (the busy tail end, unfortunately) is still in view of the force to the northwest. Wick's CS gas cloud is dispersing rapidly now, but every man in the enemy skirmish line on the east side of the road appears to have been killed or wounded by Dawid's devastating mortar barrage.

The enemy (20 or so riflemen) group to the northwest is beginning to push forward again. Only one of the Tarpan-Honker group- a slightly wounded militiaman- is returning fire now and, despite the loss of about half of its force (the decimated eastern skirmish line), the enemy appears to smell blood. Four people (Konrad, Minh, and two militiamen), two of them wounded (Minh and the miltiaman shooter) now have two heavy 155mm VX shells, the AGS-17 AGL, and the nearly 200lb Alan Wicks to carry, all while under enemy fire.

Hamlet

The party now holds the northern end of the small hamlet. The southern end is relatively quiet. Only the crackling sound of the burning building and steady gunfire from the north serve to remind its current occupants that this particular hamlet is a battle zone.

While Mariusz collects weapons and ammunition* from the dead flanking pirate squad members, Stoner hastens a mortally wounded pirate on his way with a deft flick of his butterfly knife. Meanwhile, one of the militiamen in the first house the group stormed takes it upon himself to collect discarded enemy gear from in and around that structure*. Tom Jones and Steven Drew, each perched on a rooftop (west and east, respectively) are well placed to spot any approaching enemy forces. For the time being, neither sees anything to produce undue concern. The remaining pirates seem content to remain in their half of the hamlet, ceding the northern half of their base to the invaders.

OOC: List of recovered gear to follow.

Wisla Krolowa

On Griet's instructions, Adam orders the anchors pulled up and, as soon as they are fastened aboard, begins steering the unfettered tug closer to the western shore. Griet goes down to the main deck and begins to prepare the group's "new" powerboat (captured from the pirate's envoy) to pick up what remains of the fire support group. The tug only has one proper stretcher. The port side militia machine gunner squats against the bridge superstructure, weeping with his head in his hands. Tucker and Ondar continue to provide overwatch as the tug manouvers towards the east bank of the Vistula.

(The tug and its motor launch is now ready to pick up the FSG group from the western shore.)

Fire Support Group

Anneka sends the mortar and the horses back to town and begins dragging the severely wounded miltiaman towards the shore. Kamil, for the time being at least, is left where he fell. Jan covers Anneka's movement from behind the tripod-mounted Mk-19 AGL.

Next Moves?

OOC: Sorry Tony, I missed that fourth HE bomb. If you'd like, I can still roll it. We can say Dawid dropped it right before the Krolowa started to move. It was my mistake. Your call.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:54, Wed 07 Oct 2009.

Tom continues his scanning of the surrounding area, keeping his body and head as far below the crest of the roof as possible. The ice and frost on the roof has started to send cold chills through his DPM jacket into his chest. The steam rising from the barrel of this RPK is testament to the ferocity of the previous engagement.

He hated these pirate criminal types they had also started to infest his home town before the war, work-shy, shiftless, scum. Well at least now if they where still standing on the same street corners they would glow. Tom stifles a small laugh.

He continues to scan the surrounding area especially the wooded areas where pervious enemy movement was repulsed and also the windows of the buildings in the southern section. He keeps watch for any movement around the truck near the workshop hoping to catch and unwary pirate or two.

Tom Jones
RPK-74 (45/45)
Scanning for targets, will engage with 5 round bursts
Roof of left hand house

Griet saw that there was only one stretcher and so she grabbed a length of tarpaulin to carry the second casualty. She waited for the three gunners and one of the engineers to mount the launch and then headed it toward the bank to beach it on the shore.

Griet
Steering the evac party to shore

Mariusz listened to the heavy gunfire to the north and frowned at the volume. Someone was catching it. He pulled out the radio handset and said to Stoner, "Should we start moving to the North? They may need help."

He contacted the Krowola, hoping someone there knew what was going on, "Queen, we have the northern half of the village secure, there are maybe three of us spare here, does the Kapitain need support?"

Bayer drops the AGS and gets down behind the weapon, making it and himself as low of a profile as possible. His original intention to withdraw was unraveling too quickly. As Quyen arrives for the blasting machine, he yells over his shoulder, "Connect to that one here and go!"

He then levels his H&K-69 GL towards the enemy advancing from the northwest, and adds, "Detonate all of them right away!" Bayer then fires his grenade launcher at the advancing enemy.

Bayer
AGS-17
5x semi-automatic (quick shots) on NW enemy
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:27, Thu 08 Oct 2009.

As she nears the Tarpan, Quyen pulls the smoke grenade from her webbing and hurls it towards the exposed area between the truck and the enemy coming in from the NW.

Limping over to the Hauptmann and the blasting machine, Quyen grabs its, kneels low, and quickly connects the wires. "Understood." she says quietly as she works, in reference to his orders. Over the AGS fire she informs him, "ORMO almost has Wicks clear. I have a detonating spot down the road already ready."

"I'll meet you there."

Quyen
Connecting the blasting machine to the VX next to the truck

Tarpan-Honker

From the bed of the shot-up Tarpan-Honker, Konrad fires his H&K-69 at the enemy group bounding towards the remains of the team from the northwest. The grenade explodes just a meter or so in front of a pair of rushing enemy troops that have approached to within about 100m of the immobilized squad carrier. Both men go down hard.

The militiaman dragging Wicks away from the Tarpan-Honker along the shallow ditch on the eastern edge of the road (they're about 30m away now) notices the smoke grenades dangling from Wicks' LBE. He lowers the unconscious man to the ground and tears a smoke cannister from his rig, tossing it across the road to the west, then he unslings his AKM and begins laying down fire at the flankers to the northwest. A couple of seconds before he begins firing, Minh throws her own smoke grenade towards the enemy flanking group while Petr, the militiaman in the depression on the west side of the road just a few meters from the Tarpan-Honker, continues to return fire.

The sum effect of these actions is to provide the survivors a narrow window of opportunity to pull back. Kneeling behind the Honker, Minh rigs a second VX shell (the one dropped right behind the T-H) for detonation and then heads south*. Konrad hefts the heavy AGS-17 over his shoulder, the hard, steel angles of the AGL digging into the skin around his neck, and follows Minh. Petr rips off the balance of his magazine of 7.62mm S through the building smoke and runs after his NATO comrades as his last countryman continues to provide covering fire from about 30m further down the road.

One inert VX shell remains in the middle of the road near where Wicks lies.

*OOC: Is Minh taking the second activated VX shell with her or leaving it at the T-H? The weapons of all of the dead and Wicks are being left behind.

Do you intend to detonate all three VX shells or take one or two back to the hamlet? Either is fine, although the current team probably can't carry more than one heavy 155mm shell with the rest of their burdens.

Hamlet

The stalemate at the hamlet continues, providing both friend- and foe, it can be surmised- a chance to regroup, lick their wounds, and prepare for the next round- if the fight is to continue...

Gora Kalwaria

Griet and a couple of the cannoneers make the quick jaunt to the western shore and there meet up with Anneka, Jan, and the severely wounded militiaman. The militiaman, just a hair short of death, is carefully loaded aboard the small motor launch while Jan manhandles the Mk-19 and its tripod aboard as well. Anneka accompanies the patient and Griet (and the AGL) back to the Krolowa while Jan and the gunners wait at the river bank for their turn.

From its new position closer to the west bank, those topsides aboard the Krolowa can see the river taxi that ferried the group that flushed the FSG from their firing position moored near the west bank about 500m to the north. There are a couple of men still aboard. They appear to have noticed the large river tug and are preparing to put off from the shore.

Next Moves?

Bayer will run with the AGS on his back as fast as possible and he'll yell for anyone still alive with him to withdraw along with him. As he nears Wicks and his "stretcher bearer", Bayer unceremoniously discards the AGS on the side of the road. He only wanted it to remain out of the enemy hands as it was.

Gripping onto one side of Wicks, he helps haul the wounded officer back. "Quyen! Now! Explode whatever is ready! Now!" He didn't care if only two rounds were ready, or even just one for that matter. There was simply no time to do what he had originally hoped for. Detonating just one was better than getting shot trying to rig three.

He'll keep pulling on Wicks as hard as possible until the moment Quyen is about to detonate the gas shells. Only then will he stop and mask himself and Wicks up, but hopefully they wouldn't be downwind of the VX by then and it wouldn't be needed.

Bayer
Dropping AGS next to wherever Wicks is and helping to drag him back


-Bayer and one militia should be dragging Wicks.
-Quyen should be detonating whatever she can.
-The other militia should be running south (enough to clear where the gas will be detonated).

As Tom continued to search for targets the sounds of battle further along the road becomes more incessant. The sound of automatic fire and the low whoop of detonating mortar rounds continue to tug his attention away from the task at hand.

He looks towards the young NCO and the other Nato soldier as they search the dead.

“Permission to start clearing the other buildings ?”

He half rises from his position to climb down from the roof.



Tom Jones
RPK-74 (45/45)
Asking to continue the assault
Roof of left hand house

Leaving the gas shell next to the truck, Quyen instead grabs the blasting machine and races back to where she had laid out the wires to the other rounds in a central location (next to the road). The continued use of her wounded leg, even favoring the good one by skipping as much as possible, was aggravating the wound. She gritted her teeth as she could almost feel the field dressing soaking up more blood with each step.

Once she arrives at the blasting site, she'll connect the 2 rounds to the detonator.

Minh Quyen
Running as fast as he leg will allow

Mariusz heard Tom's question and looked over at Stoner, they hadn't heard from any of the other units so there was no reason to assume that their mission had changed.

"OK," he said, "let's gather our forces together and see which house we can clear next."

He looked around, "Tom, Stoner, you scout forward and decide where we hit next, I'll get the others together."

He trotted back toward the house held by his squad and called up to Drew, "We're preparing to continue the assault, can you cover us from up there?"

Griet off loaded the cannoneers, Anneka and the wounded, "Get the doctor and injured into the sickbay and then take the AGS wherever Dawid wants to deploy it."

She turned the launch back to the shore to pick up the others.

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #923):

Sliding off the ice covered roof, Tom grabs the collar of his Jacket and give it a couple of tugs to move a bit of air around and remove the chill. As he approaches the SEAL Tom gives a nod and asks:

“Workshop and truck first ? “

He then gets a couple of the more capable Militia to help and moves out.

Tom Jones
RPK-74 (45/45)
Asking to continue the assault
Roof of left hand house

Tucker continues to scan the starboard side for threats/targets to the tug.

Tucker
Starboard Dushka
Scanning for hostiles

Jan grunted as he heaved the MK-19 aboard. He was standing in knee deep water. “See you in a minute.” Jan said. The launch moved away from the shore.

“Get down, and in cover while we wait for the boat,” Jan told the militiamen in Polish, “Be a hard target, always”. “And cover me while I bring Kamil back,” he added.

He took a quick glance around the surroundings, looking for anything out of place. It appeared clear. He jogged over to Kamil’s body, intending to bring it back to the shore.

Jan Cerny
Carying Kamil’s body to the shore
Near FSG ambush position.

Tarpan-Honker

The five survivors (Konrad, Minh, two militiamen, and Wicks) of the battle on the road north of the pirate hamlet pull back to where Minh had earlier emplaced the first VX shell. Concealed by the smoke spewing from three smoke grenades, and covered by the rifle fire of one of the miltiamen, the second VX shell is recovered from the middle of the road and prepped for demolition. Enemy fire continues to streak through the smoke, skipping off of the asphalt and whip-cracking overhead but, as of yet, causing no injuries. From the volume of incoming fire, it would appear that only a half-dozen or so enemy are doing the shooting, raising the question of what the other dozen or so remaining enemy troops are up to. The smoke works both ways, hiding each group of assailants from the other.

Two VX shells are ready to detonate. The third, unprepped gas shell remains behind at the abandoned Tarpan-Honker, along with four of the veteran militiamen, all killed in action.

Hamlet

Mariusz, Jones, and Stoner organize a second assault force and prepare to attack into the northern half of the hamlet. It is a smaller group, necessitated by having to hold their recent gains as well as having taken several casualties during the first two building assaults. With Drew in charge of the defense of the hamlet's southern half, and detailing two miltiamen each to hold the two captured buildings, that leaves just five unwounded miltiamen (4 AKMS and 1 RPD)to join the new assault group (led by Mariusz, Jones, and Stoner). Estimating recent pirate losses, and a starting strength of 150 or so at the beginning of the battle, the assault group now faces between 50-100 enemy, as well as the pirate's 100mm towed AT gun. This also assumes that none of the enemy have permanently fled the area. Regardless of how you cut it, those are some steep odds. It's enough to make one wish for a VX gas shell or two...

Wisla Krolowa

Anneka, with the help of one of the militia gunners, takes the wounded man below to the tug's sickbay. Griet, meanwhile, returns to the western shore in the motorboat and recovers Jan and the other gunners. The miltia gunner, assisted by Tadeusz, then carries the Mk-19 AGL up to its former position on the tug's raised, covered, and sandbagged quarterdeck.

Tucker, on the starboard HMG watches as the enemy water taxi finishes its departure preparations and begins to pull away from the west back, about 500m or so to the north. He has a shot at it, albeit a very long-range one. The Rapira on the foredeck can't be trained enough to bear on it. The tug's bow would have to be swung a couple of meters to starboard (a simple enough operation) in order to allow it to engage the fleeing boat. This procedure is underway, anyway, and the Rapira will have a shot at it the last pirate vessel in just a few seconds.

A gunshot from the bridge roof suggests that Ondar has found at least part of the small pirate group which had caused so much trouble on the western shore.

Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Sat 10 Oct 2009.

Tucker watches as the water taxi pulls out from it's spot and begins to move.  He knows it's a long shot but, if he can make a couple of well placed shots, he may be able to take out the boat or at least stop it from getting away.  He settles in behind the sights and rips of a burst of fire at the pirate taxi.

Tucker
Starboard Dushka
Ripping off burst at the water taxi

Tom searches amongst the recovered weapons looking for something a little more practical for the upcoming task. Either a SMG or AK he thinks to himself as he rummages amongst the pile next to the young NCO. He then spots the AKS-74U, excellent this will do the job. He also hands the RPD to an experienced militiaman and asks him to collect the other RPD gunner and cover them from the woodpile.

Once armed he joins the small assault force as they begin their advance along the buildings to their first target*.

He is happy for the more experienced members of the group to lead the assault; he knows he can put lead in the air, just unsure if it will hit anything.


*From Rae's description (Msg.#809) I believe the workshop will be closest, then the truck and lastly the two-story house that the workshop backs onto.


Tom Jones
AKS-74U (30/30)
Small assault force
Engaging pirates
This message was last edited by the player at 08:15, Sun 11 Oct 2009.

Tactical Overview (Hamlet)

Separating the Gora-Kalwaria militia-held northern half of the hamlet, and the southern, presumably pirate-held sothern half of the hamlet, is a no-man's land consisting of the large garage/workshop, near which is parked a Soviet-made military cargo truck and a large fuel alcohol still, and the burning two-story house on the other side of the dirt road which runs north to south through the middle of the hamlet.

The pirates' earlier effort to launch a counterattack directly through the center of the town was defeated by Wicks' accurate grenade fire. Three bodies lying in the road near the burning house give testament to this. Two more bodies lie on the south side of the garage/workshop, where they were cut down by Minh's 30mm AGL fire.

Two subsequent flanking attempts by the pirates were also defeated. The eastern attack was stopped dead (literally) by Drew's GPMG fire from the rooftop of eastern, G-K militia held house while the western attack, after meeting with some initial success, was wiped out by Jones' fire and Mariusz and Stoner's bold counterattack.

The as-yet nameless Polish riverside hamlet- and its immediate surrounds- is now a graveyard for at least 24 pirates. Two Gora-Kalwaria militiamen and Angelita Ling have also met their maker in the hamlet. Elsewhere, others continue to fight. And die.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:31, Sat 10 Oct 2009.