Jay handed the 2 soviet frag grenades over to Quyen. He then followed her example by blending back into the shadows to provide some level of perimeter security, leaving the NCOs and the kapitanji to decide the plan of action.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #692):

"Yes, Kaptain. Tucker, get the rest of the element into a 360 defence."

He looked at Orso. "Who are you, again? I am Dawid Piotrowski. This is our commander, Kaptain Bayer."

"Kaptain, I might be able to handle it but I'm more use on the gun. I'll ask some of the Poles if they can drive. But I don't hold out a lot of hope for someone with specific experience."

Dawid had a thoughtful look on his face when Minh praised Chopper but kept his own council.


OOC: when applicable, Dawid asks all PC and NPC Poles if they have experience driving large tracked vehicles, this includes "Butterfly's" group.

Tucker happily steps away from the bullshit that just took place.  Having the utmost respect for Konrad, he doesn't say another word on the matter.  When Dawid asks him to get the group into a security perimeter, he nods to him and gives him a quick reply of, "No problem."

Making his way to the two elements he had, Tucker makes his way around to both of them and starts setting up a 360 degree security perimeter trying to utilize who still had good batteries in the NVG's to cover the four major points of the compass.  "Gimme a 360 ring here right now so nothin' ain't sneaking up on us and getting us before we move in.!"

Friday, October 27th, 2000
1200 hrs.
55F
clear skies; slight breeze from the east
Warsaw Symphony House, Warsaw, Poland


You arrive at Butterfly's headquarters around noon. The building is large and fairly ornate but badly scared by battle. She says it used to be home of the Warsaw Symphony. The day is clear and relatively warm. It must be somewhere between 50F and 60F.

The journey was long and nerve-wracking, but thankfully, you didn't have to accomplish the entire trek on foot. After leading you south out of the ruined village through darkened fields and scattered woods, Butterfly took you to a horse-drawn wagon waiting in an abandoned farm building. It was guarded by a boy who looked to have been about 13 or 14 but who, despite his tender years, handled his sawn-off 12-guage shotgun like a seasoned pro. The youg driver took you to the outskirts of the city where you transferred to a former German Army Pinzgauer 4x4 truck with an improvised cargo cover concealed in a nook surrounded by mountains of rubble. Butterfly drove and Orso rode in front, with Dawid in between to keep them honest.

You passed through a single checkpoint. The half-dozen guys guarding it were clearly amateurs. Butterfly showed them her merchant's liscence, signed by the Baron, and the guards let the truck through without even looking in the back. Other checkpoints are unmanned. Most of the Baron's manpower is outside the city, poised to crush the approaching 10th TD.

Those of you riding in the back of the truck couldn't see much of the city during the ride. The cargo cover is intended to keep prying eyes out and the reverse is true as well. The Pinzgauer pulls into the symphony hall through a large shell hole in the side of the building. A large tarp or section of field tent covers the hole.

The interior of the symphony hall is fairly cavernous. It's dimly lit by a couple of oil lamps. Crates and bundles of various goods are stacked in piles on the stage and where the seats used to be. A man with an AK guards the inventory from a balcony box seat.

"I pay taxes to the Baron and sell him items he likes at a deep discount so he mostly leaves us alone. The radio was in a high-rise apartment several blocks away. The flat was empty so there should be no way to trace it back to me here. I'll get you some food." She sends one of her men away to fetch some food.

All of you napped fitfully during part of the journey here, but most of you are still dog tired. Unfortunately, there's little time to rest. Every hour, the 10th is crawling closer to the Baron's main force. The hostages must be rescued, the granary seized, and preparations made to receive the bulk of the Black Legion before the 10th meets them.


Updated tac-map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...36,0.098877&z=14


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Fri 17 June 2011.

Jay cat-napped in the back of the truck. He was used to catching sleep when he could, so got some rest. When they arrived at the concert hall he looked around, taking in the once magnificent structure. He always found places like this to be both wonderful and alien, a world away from the small thatched house he grew up in, high in the mountains of Nepal.

Stepping out of the vehicle, he dropped silently into the gloom, doing his best to be invisible.

     Monika stood in the center of the concert hall.  She closed her eyes and remembered...  The elegant clothing of all those attending...  The soaring renditions of classics preformed by the world class orchestra she was blessed to be able to hear...  The champagne and all of the food at the party after the concert...  For a moment in time, Monika was a carefree young woman basking in the glow of light from other days, dancing to music that only she heard.

     The music faded.  Monika opened her eyes again to the gray surroundings.  A tear crept down a dirty cheek.  She kicked at a piece of rubble.  The medic drew on her limited command of English muttering, "War... stoo-ped."

Craig was incredibly tense the entire trip into Warsaw. He notched it up to how close they had come to being wiped out last time. He also had the uneasy feeling that the city population where not going to rise up as butterfly had predicted. They had protected the Baron interests very well with those flares, but people do silly things when protecting their homes and family.

He looked over towards the pile of goods Butterfly was trading looking for ammunition or weapon crates.

As Tucker slept on and off in the rear of the 4x4 vehicle, he went in and out of consciousness as the vehicle hit bumps and every other pothole on the way to Butterflys camp.  He didn't even realize the checkpoint they had stopped at until they pulled into the symphony hall and heard others talking about it.  He dismounts from the rear and looks for Minh and a place they can sit and rest.  Once he finds her, he asks, "How you doin' soldier?"

Mariusz grabbed as much rest as he could as they headed for Warsaw. Once they were in the Symphony Hall he waited for the command to make a decision on their next move.

"Be careful," Orso warned everyone.
"I don't know how stable the building is so don't wander off."
Signs of charring were everywhere. This close to the nuke strike to the north east it was lucky to still have walls let alone a reasonably intact roof. But that's where the luck ran out. Signs of destruction were everywhere and at least one fire had ripped through the interior.

"I suggest approaching down along the river, keeping as close to the water as possible. It's a shame we can't wait until dark."
Approaching from the south through the buildings and rubble was the obvious route, so obvious even the relatively poor quality troops left behind would be smart enough to be watching it closely. Coming from the east meant crossing hundreds of metres of fields, all now nothing but stubble dusted with snow.
The north wasn't much better with whatever prewar cover there had been either knocked over by the nukes, scorched into ash, or cleared for yet more fields.
"The only other option I can think of is just jump in the truck and try bluffing it inside. I don't think that will work very well though since there's too many chances to be discovered. Also means everyone in the truck could be killed with one quick burst."

In reply to Monika Sawicki (msg #706):

Dawid resisted getting some sleep coming into town, although he was pretty tired and his leg throbbed a little. He needed to be awake and alert, so that if there was another ambush he might give coherent orders.

Sighing, he watched Monika listen to her private concert. Smiling a little, he lit a cigarette and offered the pack to her. "We did not start this war, but we pay the price, indeed. Sister, were you a musician, once? Or just a lover of music? It is written on your face," he said in Polish.

     Monika declined the offer of the smoke.  "A dear friend of the Family could get tickets.  I would go sometimes."  A faint trace of music echoed through her memory, then fell silent.  "But, that was a girl in another life.  This is what remains.  We are what remains.  It felt good to not have to try to think in English.

"Hauptman," Orso called to Konrad.
"How about the Lieutenant and I scout the "castle" while the rest of you get organised?"
Orso didn't know Craig very well at all, but he moved like somebody who knew how to keep quiet and in cover.
"Maybe your sniper too?"

Craig looks at the Polish man in front of him for a few seconds before answering:

"Yes I've done the course and scout/sniper was my role for most of this war."

He glances towards the command team:

"If that's the plan of attack that the rest want to go with then I'm happy to accompany you."

"That sounds wonderful! I grew up on a farm to the southeast of here, so I didn't get into Warszawa that much. It's good to see someone can still be moved by something as enlightened as music. All hope for the future isn't lost, then."

He paused, wishing he could say something more positive and uplifting, but he guessed that would have to do without being cliche, or worse, dishonest. In the back of his mind he was always working on how to best tackle the Baron's castle and rescuing the hostages.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:01, Thu 23 June 2011.

Jay listened to the discussion between the NCOs. When the big italian mentioned scouting he butted in. "You need scout, I very good scout, I sneaky sneaky!" He tapped the side of his nose and grinned. He was adept at creeping around in the dark, and could use his skills on the upcoming recon mission.

Jeff simply nods at Orto's suggestion.  When Jay speaks up, he cautions "We should be careful of too large a group, but we could be able to recon multiple targets at once."

"The four of us should be enough," he said, thanking Jay for volunteering his services so quickly.
"I suggest Warren and the Lieutenant team up to find a few good sniper hides while Jay and I check out the river bank as a possible approach route."
The reasons behind Orso's suggested pairings were simple. Both Craig and himself had recent experience in the city and knew the layout while the other two did not.

"Fine." Bayer agrees. "That's alright with me."

Turning to face the British officer, he says, "Lieutenant Sutherland, you and Warren will recce the outer perimeter. Your primary task is to locate vantage points and report back on the outlying area." Then motioning to Jay and Orso, he says, "You two can do like you said... recce approach and withdraw routes in and out of the objective area."

"Don't overextend your tasks though. If you are spotted, we may lose the opportunity for the rescue to go ahead. Don't kill anyone or anything like that either." he warns.

Bayer then describes a basic outline for everybody, "The mission orders for the hostage recovery will wait until the recce teams report back and we can compliment their findings with the plan. While the recce patrols are out in the field though, the remainder will get on with mission prep. This will also allow Butterfly to have enough time to make contact with her people as well."

He then takes a brief moment to mentally splits up the group based on what he's heard over the discussion and where he think everyone's skills can be best put to use. "Tentative groupings and tasks will be as follows..."

"Dawid, you'll be taking command of the support group. Your role will be to provide outer security while hostage recovery is occurring, namely by ambushing and fixing any enemy reactionary force that will certainly arrive. It is vital that you prevent any threats into the objective area while we are trying to extract the hostages. In your group will be Sergeant Tucker, Arturo, Flemming, Sawicki, and all of the other Poles... except for Matias."

"Jeff, you and Craig will be setting up an OP based on your recce. You'll monitor the ground in and around the objective to provide early warning to both groups if possible... as well as precision fire."

"Jan, I want you to take the recovery group. I'll be with you to provide mission control, but squad command is yours. Jay and Quyen will be your silent hitters, but I'm also following the suggestion I've heard and throwing in Mariusz and Matias for diversions... as well as added firepower once the game is up."

Then to the group he say again, "Detailed orders to follow on completion and return of the two recce patrols."

Friday, October 27th, 2000
1800 hrs.
56F
clear skies; slight breeze from the east
new moon
Warsaw Symphony House, Warsaw, Poland


Jeff & Craig

Jeff and Craig lay on the bare, dusty concrete floor of the damaged flat's upper story, taking in the view. They studied the enemy position overlooking the only surviving bridge between the east and west banks of the Vistula. A sturdy-looking blockhouse made of rubble occupied a small promontory just to the south of the bridge root, offering good fields of fire across the length of the bridge as well as upriver, south along the Vistula. The bunker could probably fit and fight about six men fairly comfortably. A long barrel- probably belonging to some sort of HMG- portruded from the west-facing embrasure. The bunker appeared to have a single entrance/exit in the east-facing wall. The entire position was sited and constructed to cover the bridge and the river- it really wouldn't be able to support the troops in the castle should a hostile force attack from the north, east, or southeast.

The Baron's "castle" was basically just a ring of rubble, 5-10 meters tall in most places, with a large gap in the southern wall being used to haul additional material in and out of the ring. There was a sturdy looking "keep" building well under construction on the east side of the compound. A single sentry was perched atop a corner of the keep's incomplete roof, looking down on to the floor of the ring. A large black flag hung from a large pole slotted into the keep roof. The hostages that Jeff and Craig could see were seated within the ring, huddling under blankets or pacing in tight little circles. The scouts counted at least 4 armed men on the floor of the ring, mingled in amongst the civilian hostages. Sentries stood atop the rubble battlements at each of the cardinal points of the compass facing outwards. The battlements consisted of a fairly level track upon which the sentries stood, with waste-high rubble mounds set at fairly random intervals provided cover/firing positions. The sentries, for the most part, stood upright on the track, exposed. Every once in a while, one would plop down behind or atop one of the rubble "crennelations" to rest. As a whole, the castle guards looked fairly relaxed. A single LMG post was positioned at overlooking the large gap in the southern quarter of the ring. The two men manning it were facing inwards, towards the hostages. There appeared to be a second set of sentries lower down on the interior slope of the rubble wall, looking down on the hostages. A well trained and equipped sniper could probably hit any of the men atop the ring from where Craig and Jeff were concealed. The men inside the ring, on the other hand, would be much harder to hit- they would only have to move a couple of meters to dissapear from sight.

As far as Jeff and Craig could see, the approaches to the castle were fairly open and, aside from the four sentries atop the wall, unguarded.

As Craig and Jeff watched, a two-wheeled horse cart arrived at the castle gate. A man drove the cart while a woman rode in the back. A guard emerged from the castle along with four hostages. The cart woman and the hostages unloaded several large, steaming pots and carried them, sloshing, into the ring. Four more hostages emerged to carry several large sacks into the ring. The cart driver sat there watching. After about fifteen minutes, the hostage load-carriers reemerged with the pots and sacks, loaded them back on the cart and went back inside. The cart then trundled off, heading east along the main thoroughfare. After witnessing dinner, Craig and Warren headed back to the Symphony Hall to report back to the rest of the group.

Movement outside the vicinity of the castle complex was relatively easy. There were no checkpoints and no roving foot patrols were encountered. The city really was being guarded by no more than a skeleton crew. Unfortunately, most of the men left behind were in or around the castle complex.


Jay & Orso

Jay and Orso made their way to the east bank of the Vistula, following a route running north of the castle complex. Like the ride in, there were no patrols out on the streets, nor were there many civilians out and about, so the pair moved quickly, making good time to the river.

The area directly north of the castle was lightly wooded. The tree cover used to be heavier but fighting and foraging have denuded all but the youngest, stubbiest growth, significantly reducing the level of cover and concealment. Still, a small team moving stealthily, especially in the dark, could likely approach the castle to within at least 100m dozen without being detected, especially if the enemy sentries don't have night vision devices.

The Italian and the Gurkha crept as close to the north side of the castle as they dared in the daylight, setting up an OP in some underbrush about 300m from the old stadium grounds. From their hide, they could see only a single sentry atop the rubble ring. He was casually vigilant and failed to notice or react to the scout team.

Through the weeds, Jay and Orso caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a bunker roof near the riverbank, on the far side of the slightly raised main roadway leading to the remains of the road bridge (now only foot accessible). It appeared to be sited to cover upriver and across the bridge. From their relatively low vantage point, it looked like the bunker's lines of fire are not suitable to cover downriver, making a northern approach that much safer (relatively speaking) than one from the south or west.

All

While the scouts were away, the rest of the party caught up on rest and weapon maintenance. By the time the two pairs of exhausted scouts arrived, those that stayed behind were refreshed and ready to go.


Updated tac-map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...12,0.024719&z=16


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Mon 27 June 2011.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #719):

Orso's jaw dropped open in suprise at the Hauptman's including him in the support group after he'd just been told the big Italian/American was one of the few people available actually able to move with any degree of stealth.
"Umm, I may not have a silenced pistol, but I do have my fists and I've been inside before."

Jay quickly got ready for the scouting mission by dumping his pack and some of his kit with Quyen. He has worked with her a bit already on this mission, and was growing to trust her. "I leave this here okay, you look after please."

He left his newly aquired AK-74 behind, not needing the firepower, along with the chest harness full of mags. He also left behind the RPG and his helmet. Stealth was the most important thing, and he needed to move as quickly and quietly as possible.

He retrieved the Uzi from his pack, loading a full mag and stuffing the spare mags in a webbing pouch. Hopefully he wouldn't need to use them, but if he did he planned to shoot quickly then escape.

Once done he apprached the burly Italian, "Okay, I ready, we go now."

Mariusz spoke to the big man that had been with the French agent, "Erm, excuse me, but if we are going to be used as decoys, Matias and I need different clothes, you wouldn't know if your Boss keeps any civilian gear here would you?"

After hearing Konrad's plans for the unit, Robert will walk over to Dawid and trying to find out how he wants to set them up.  "I got one claymore mine & three HEDP rounds left Dawid.  If we can figure out the most likely route travelled in for the reactionary force, we can set up the claymore on that route, pop it, and handle our business from there.  Depending on the types of vehicles they have to respond with, the HEDP rounds should be OK, especially if their heavier stuff is out and looking for us and the 10th.

Plus, you got this gung-ho dude with the grenade launcing platform from hell which should help out too.  I mean in case we have to collapse back to where the hostages are, he would be our best choice to take us there since I think he mentioned he's been in there before.  He's looks cocky but, useful in a fight."

Butterfly overheard Mariusz's question and replied for her Italian bodyguard. "Yes, we've got all manner of civilian apparel. Most of it is over there. Feel free to take whatever you need."

Responding to the concerns voiced over a reaction force, she offered, "Based on their current dispositions, it will likely take a reaction force from the Baron's main body at least an hour to arrive back in the city. It would be wise to scout out and prepare ambush positions for a blocking force but we needn't devote manpower to holding them until after the hostages are freed. If we can rescue the hostages, we can probably count on a few dozen civilians to help us fight off the reaction force if and when it arrives."