"I am sorry but it does not work like that!" replied Jan with a shake of his head.  "This is a military unit and so you can not pick and choose which orders you are happy to follow.  I am sure that it is the same in the Italian army and if one of your soldiers was to say what you just said to me I do not think that you would accept them saying it.  As long as you follow orders we will not have a problem.  If you do not like my or the Capitaine's orders then you can leave.  Understood?"

Before Dawid goes off, Tucker stands next to him and makes sure that his words to him are personal (OOC: As they should've been when I made the original comments to Dawid originally!),

Tucker takes the PKM from Dawid as he moves off to cross the bridge.  "Good luck."

East Bank Warsaw



The much-reduced crowd of former hostages listens to Mariusz, their faces displaying a wide range of emotions. At the end of the young Polish fighter's speed, only three people step forward- an older gentlemen- probably 60 years of age or thereabouts, followed by two young women, barely out of their teens. Although one of the girls displays more enthusiasm for this fight than anyone else in the small crowd, the other is cleary only "volunteering" because her friend is. It's not quite the response Mariusz was hoping for. It looks as though the more brave, resourceful, and motivated hostages have already seized the moment by fleeing during the height of the gun battle inside the stadium/fort. The rest of the hostages remind you of a traumatized flock of sheep meeting a strange and new shepherd after having recently been ravaged by a pack of hungry wolves.

While Tucker, Orso, and the bulk of the rescue team pull security and ponder the group's next moves, Jan attempts to treat the wounded, dressing their wounds. Both women should live, he determines, although one will likely need to lose her arm in order to do so. Monika would have known better. The man who had the heart attack, however, is clearly beyond reviving.

Warren and Craig remain on overwatch from their rooftop flat a few hundred meters away. There's been no sign of a response by any of the Baron's men.

West Bank Warsaw

Dawid, meanwhile, donning his red beret and Home Army armband, steps boldly into the unknown, walking towards the rubbled buildings where last he'd seen the unknown watchers while Piotr, Flemming, and Monika watch on.

Fortunately for Dawid, the watchers prove to be members of the rebel group Butterfly told you about. They are weary at first, but the recent show around the stadium has convinced them that you are indeed a worthy and potent ally in the struggle to throw off the fetters of the Black Baron's despotic rule. The rebel's spokesman, a former dock worker and army conscript named Florjan Fabianski inquires after your plans and the overall situation on the east bank.

Dawid lays the cards all out on the table, giving Florjan an up-to-date picture of the tactical picture in East Bank Warsaw. Florjan's face belies both hope and great concern at the news.

"We will help you. This is the time to strike. If the Baron returns and we are not ready to meet him, he will slaughter civilians. We must move quickly."

He reveals the size and strength of his rebel force- 21 poorly armed fighters, several of them women, few of them with any formal military training or experience. Their heaviest weapon is an RPK-47. Two of the rebels are armed with nothing more than handguns. The group does, however, have a couple of milk crates full of Molotov cocktails (24 total) and a couple of homemade pipe bombs.

Flemming, currently acting as Dawid's RTO, without going into too much detail (you never know who's listening), keeps Konrad abreast of these developments.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:42, Fri 21 Oct 2011.

Mariusz had mixed feelings about the results of his rabble-rousing, on the one hand the trio didn't look to be much use in a fight, on the other hand it had been a long time since he had been this close to a pair of girls his own age...

He shuddered, "It's a shame I'm keeping myself pure for Maria," he thought to himself and then said aloud, "Thank you comrades, come with me to our commander."

As he led the trio to Bayer he looked at the old man and asked, "How well do you know the city? You look to young to have been involved in the Uprising."

In fact, to Mariusz, the man looked like Methuselah's dad, but it didn't hurt to flatter people, if the man had been part of the uprising or did know the city well he might be useful to them despite his decrepitude.

From his new vantage point Craig scans the stadium through his scope again. He tried to get an angle on the small keep in the interior to see if the hold outs have moved off.

He continued to wait for orders to come through for their next move.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Sat 22 Oct 2011.

The handful of poorly-armed fighters was better than nothing, but they were facing tanks and probably a company of the Baron's best. Their only (slender) hope was the heavy weapons aboard the Queen, and that would take time to arrive, once they were contacted via radio.

"Let me reassure you, Florjan, we have his hostages. Random slaughter isn't going to gain the Baron anything other than to destroy his own source of wealth.

"Still, he needs to be stopped and stopped quickly. We will likely be moving on the granary next. Come with me, we can help the hostages escape across the bridge and you can talk to our commander."

Florjan looks concerned. His tone his almost desperately urgent. "I don't question your fighting ability- I've seen what you can do firsthand- but I know this man better than you do, Sergeant. If we don't strike now, he'll just seize more hostages. This is even more likely if we hold the granary. He'll use civilians as bargaining chips. Well, it sounds like time is very short. My people will help you move the hostages across the bridge while I speak with your commander."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:04, Sat 22 Oct 2011.

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #882):

"Yes, let us go.

"True, we have caused a lot of damage to the Baron's forces. Surely not all of them want to die for this madman, even (especially) with harsh discipline most of his men should be thinking about being elsewhere. Not if the city rises up around them! What are the odds of that happening?"

He began walking back to where the rest of the support team waited on this side of the bridge.

"Monika, take Florjan here across the bridge to meet with the Kapitan. Tend to any wounded, as well. Remind him to contact the Queen, they should know what's going on."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Sat 22 Oct 2011.

In reply to Dawid Waldus Piotrowski (msg #883):

"Sergeant Piotrowski,"
Piotr takes a knee behind some cover and props up his RPK towards the west
"Shall we make preparations on this side of the bridge for defense or are we going to cross back?"
Piotr will scan any likely approach routes for hostiles.

"Yes, Sergeant. Come on Florjan, time to meet the Kommander."

In reply to Piotr Pawlowski (msg #884):

"Thankfully, we have friendlies ahead of us here on the West bank of the Wisla (Vistula). The Baron is approaching from the Northeast, where he's been (presumably mostly) drawn away from blocking the 10th into the city."

He looked around, surveying the positions the support detachment took when crossing the rickety bridge. Dawid addressed his detachment in English and Polish.

"They look fine for me. Pawlowski, you can cover the north arc with, ah, wait, I guess you're back with Tucker now. He's a good man. I'll cover the southern arc with Fleming. Orders are to let the hostages through when they cross. After, we're probably crossing back over, and be careful, these are friendlies here."

"I don't think she should come." Quyen says flatly to Mariusz, nodding to the hesitant one. "She does not belong."

Quyen then gives an upward nod to the younger girl and says, "Go home."

If Mariusz doesn't agree then Minh won't say anymore on the matter. Instead, she turns from the group and returns back to where the Captain is and squats down nearby, waiting for the order to move out. While she waits, she digs into her pocket and pulls out her smokes and lights one up, exhaling a long breath of bluish-gray haze as she stares at the Vistula.

Then glancing down at the crumpled pack of cigarretes before she places them back in her pocket, she counts them. Only eight left.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Sun 23 Oct 2011.

"Understood Sergeant!"
Piotr covers the north arc of the bridgehead.  As he does so, he starts stacking whatever debry there maybe handy to give better cover should there be any pending counter-attacks.

Since he is looking in that direction, if time permits, he will try to get a look at the railway bridge to the north.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:11, Sun 23 Oct 2011.

Tucker walks over to where Piotr is working on making a defensible position for himself.  He leans his rifle/grenade launcher combo so it is near by them as he begins to work with him, handing him debis as they try to reinfore their position.  "We work as a team, OK?" Robert tells him.

Jan looked over the volunteers and agreed with Minh's assessment on the younger girl.  Even more he wasn't sure if he wanted to recruit the elder girl, particularly if she didn't have much training.  The older man had undoubtedly served his country before as a conscript so he at least knew what he was getting into.

"Maruisz, get one of the spare AKs," Jan instructed, "and get them each to show you how to cock it and replace the magazine.  Let us see if they know how to handle a rifle."  The younger girl was sure to fail and it was an important test for the other two.

He then turned to Konrad.  "Capitaine, almost anyone worth recruiting here has already run away."

Mariusz listened to the others' opinions and said, "Sir, whilst the girls are probably safer away from the fighting, they can still be of use. I was thinking they could travel to other communities and spread the message. That way we might get more support and if things get hairy they can disappear back home. This gentlemen may have vital knowledge of the local area, but that's more a hope of mine than a fact."

Jan nodded at Mariusz's comments.  "That is good thinking," he added.

"Tak partnera!  As American Rangers say, "Nobody get left behind""
Piotr gives a nod and a wink,
"Set up maszynowy here, no?", as he points to the north west and making hand motions for a good location for the PKM.  Then scoots to one side of his covered position, motioning for Tuck to place the PKM there.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:00, Sun 23 Oct 2011.

Tucker looks a little confused at first but the hand signals kind of put him in the right direction with what Piotr is trying to ask.  "Yes, that's good there," Robert says referring to the positioning of the PKM. "Good, clear fields of fire, yes?"

Once they get done setting up a position, Tucker says to Piotr, "That's a good motto those Rangers have Piotr.  More units should be like that but we do try to take care of our own and do the best we can."

Jay busied himself helping the team prepare for the next phase of the mission.

While Florjan, newly arrived back on the east bank, conuslts with Konrad, the 50 or so remaining hostages begin shuffling across the bridge. Every third or fourth civilian inquires after family or friends still somewhere in the city on the east side of the Vistula. Presumably, the hostages who fled the firefight are spreading news of the defeat of the Baron's men at the stadium fort among their own relations in the occupied section of the city. At this point, what effect this news will have on the civilian population of east bank Warsaw is still anyone's guess. Without guns or leadership, a popular uprising is unlikely. If the civilians were to scatter, it would be harder for the Baron's men to conduct large-scale reprisals. But, once again, there is no way to know how the civilian population of east bank Warwaw is going to respond to recent developments.

At Jan's prompting, Mariusz gives each of the three volunteers a captured AK-74. With a bit of fumbling, the old man is able to load the weapon and chamber a round. The more confident of the two young ladies tries to immitate him, but Jan has to relieve her of the weapon before she accidently shoots someone with it. Her less enthusiastic friend handles the rifle like it is a very heavy and very venomous snake; she gadly relinquishes the weapon when asked for it back. The bolder girl protests, "I can learn. I want to do this! Let me fight! At least give me a pistol or something!"

On the rooftop with Warren, Craig scans back over the stadium with his rifle scope, paying close attention to the MG bunker. The two wounded gunners are making their way down to the stadium floor, trying to help one another, each with a useless right arm. Even through the scope, Craig can see how pale from blood loss they are. They are no threat to anyone. They start heading for the keep, the roof of which Craig can see. The door at ground level is still blocked from view by the south wall of the fort. Warren, meanwhile, looks east, searching for signs of a reaction force, or the Baron's armor. He thinks he can see some drifting patches of thin dark smoke to the east, northeast but it could be cooking smoke or something else.


A good bit of the Baron's main force, including several AFVs is, according to Flemming's radio intercepts, on its way back into the city. It's destination is uncertain but it stands to reason that it will be heading back to the Baron's power base to secure the stocked granary building. They apparently know of the earlier action at the stadium so it is also possible that they'll be headed there instead, unless they've been more recently updated. Or, perhaps the Baron will split his forces to head for both his administrative center and the fort.

Either way, at its current location, the Kommando Wisla is poorly positioned to intercept them and time is ticking away.

Aside from the well armed, well led, and highly experienced core of the Kommando, your resources include a highly armed and expertly crewed river tug (as yet in the dark about recent developments in the city), twenty eager but lightly armed and inexperienced rebels, Butterfly and her half-dozen "associates" and, on the far side of the Baron's forces, the 200 antsy veterans of the 10th TD (also unaware of recent developments in the city).

Thanks to the efforts of the Kommando over the past two weeks, the Baron's force has been much depleted and it's morale, according to Piotr's squad of turncoats, is at an all-time low. Another sharp defeat could cause wholesale desertions or perhaps even precipitate a coup. On the other hand, the Baron's remaining forces are relatively well armed and organized, and their AFVs offer them a distinct advantage in firepower and mobililty.

Unless you are willing to cede the east bank to the Black Baron, you will need to move soon. The granary is an obvious destination for the Baron's relief force and, according to witnesses, is lightly guarded at the moment. Florjan's rebels could likely seize it, or at least tie down the guards there, without much help, leaving the Kommando free to ambush the relief force on its way there.

There is also the option of retreating to the west bank.  Without his navy, the Baron can't cross the river in force, as long as forces hostile to him hold the west end of the foot bridge. However, this is not without considerable risks. As Florjan has pointed out, ceding the east bank will allow the Baron to mount reprisals against the civilians of Warsaw at will. In addition to this, the Baron would have no reason not to use his chem shells against the sparsely populated west bank.

A decision must be made, and soon.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:29, Sat 29 Oct 2011.

Awaiting orders from chain of command...

In the meantime just stacking debris and steel to fortify the postion,

"Tuck, we build our own "little fort" like in old American cowboy movies!"

In reply to Piotr Pawlowski (msg #897):

On the west bank, Dawid saw the first of the hostages carefully make their way over.

"Tucker!" he called over, "you have command here. I'm going to consult with the Kaptain."

Taking the PKM he made his way back over to the far bank and found Konrad.

"My apologies, Kaptain, for my unprofessional behaviour over the radio, there was no excuse."

"Speaking of the radio, first and foremost we need to alert Adam and get the Queen moving."

"To deal with the Baron we can employ the classic guerrilla strategy of ambushing the reaction force as he comes to secure his grain. I'd prefer to be behind the Vasilek or the D-30 for this engagement, if we had either, but even so we have no easy way to handle those tanks. Unless the Monks give us access to their own 122mm gas shells, which they probably won't. If we somehow deal the Baron a blow maybe that will be what's needed to break his hold."

"Or, we can retreat to the West bank, maybe back to Gora Kalawria. The Baron can launch reprisals all he likes, maybe our people will finally grow some testicles and rise up, instead of letting our take all the risks, pay the price. We can lead them, train and organise an army, strike on the East bank at our leisure. There must be weapons somewhere! There was a War around here, for God's sake. The Baron might use his gas shells but I doubt he will until he has a perfect target. He won't waste them if he's less than certain because once those shells are used his most powerful deterrent is gone. And we can use that desire for certainty to our advantage: decoy him, ambush forward observers, feed him incorrect information."

"As for the food, whichever happens I suggest we move it to the west bank so it's at least out of his hands. Maybe to Gora Kalawria?"

Bayer nods, but says nothing. He wasn't surprised and to be honest, he didn't really want people to come along who were just going to soak up bullets anyways. With his silence, he leaves it to him, Mariusz and Quyen to make the call on what the civilian's futures will hold.



"Accepted." Bayer says offhandedly and motioning for him to sit next to him in the grass where he was opening his map. Then while tracing a finger up the blue line representing the Vistula on the map, he says, "I'm already on the Queen."

Toggling his radio handset, Bayer says over the platoon net, "Warren, relay a message to the Queen to begin moving downstream towards Warsaw. Have them report in once they're under five kilometers from the city limits for follow up orders. Also, update the 10th in the situation here."

After Dawid speaks him mind, Bayer nods and promptly calls Jan over from the Polish civilians, announcing "Co-ord meeting." When the NCO arrives, Bayer asks, "Give me some input... keep it short."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:15, Tue 25 Oct 2011.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #899):

Although not a radio operator, Dawid had by default become custodian of the group's communication information. Jan was privy to the same information, if and when he had the chance he intended Fleming to be the unit's RTO but when would he have the time?

"Warren, here's the codes and frequencies to contact the Queen. It was all written for me when we left last week, you should be able to figure it out."


When Jan arrived he reiterated his ideas. He hoped Jan could come up with something better!