NationStates Jolt Archive

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Lutherstadt Wittenburg Germany:1945
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The war had been long and was faught hard by every country involved. Germany was crumbling right before the Nazis who were getting short of men and resourses to continue the fight. The remaining men of the German iron fist had to fight back, this time it was for survival.

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Bombed out hotel within the city:
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Lt. Klaus Bauffman sat behind a table smoking a cigerette calmly. There were 8 Waffen SS troops in the room and 2 were on sentry dutys elsewhere. The Lt had organised this squad with soldiers who were still willing to fight, asleep on the floor were 2 wounded Hitler Youth and 2 more of their commrades sat close by. The sound of rain pattering off the windows was the only noise through out the building.

The hotel was used for SS and Whermacht officers stopping by in the early days of the 3rd Reich. A large nazi banner hung outside flattering in the wind, there on the front steps strolled an SS corporal on duty. Parked in front of the hotel was a black Mercedes Bentz which Bauffmann had arrived in. The cars previous owner was a deceased SS Captian headed for Berlin but an allied plane swooped down killing the driver and the Captian. Bauffmann was the only man left un-harmed.

He realized there was no where to retreat but towards the russians who must have stumbled across the concentraition camps by now and would not be impressed with the SS at all.

Bauffman sat up in his chair and looked over to the young Hitler Youth,

"Everything will be alright soon..your war is over boys.."

One of them got offended,

"No sir..it is not..it is still our war.."

The SS Lt looked shocked, the boys courage was stronger than high ranking German officers these days, He smiled,

"You are right...you are right.."

The sound of artillary shook the quietness, Bauffmann sat back in his chair as if nothing was going on. Bauffman wore a green SS uniform with his officers cap, he had a helmet sitting on the table beside his MP40. All around his waist was mag pouches, the other soldiers in his unit had bullet chains around their necks and such for the MG-42 they had. Quietly they sat awaitng their fate..the storm was so bad it was near impossible to see in front of ones self when out side. All that could be seen through the darkness was barely visible shapes of destroyed buildings from all the allied bombings.

The men were gathered around trying to keep warm. There was a fireplace but Bauffmann wouldn't let them use it. The men realized what they were doing and knew all odds were agaisnt them, the initial plan was Bauffmann was supposed to retreat to the Eagles Nest in Austria to assist the SS there on their fallback plan..he knew not a soul would show up there. Hitler was stuck in Berlin and Bauffmann was not going to face the Reds this time, Being captured by the Americans,Brittish or Canadians seemed better than rotting in a camp for years or being shot on sight.

In his head he could still hear the people yelling and screaming for Hitler...these days the yelling and screaming was pain...

OOC: Remember, im rping as my nation's forces
Outside of Lutherstadt

In a small village outside of the city in a old schoolhouse, members of a Republic Guard scouting party sit in one of the rooms of the buliding, now their HQ. They waited to move out, the war was ending and the noose around Nazi Germany's neck was tighting. Lt. Hareade and the other 9 men sit with their American weapons at hand. When the Guard was deployed, they caused a problem, do the fact that they wear black hats but, with normal combat uniforms. The men saw stuff they will never forget, to them. The war must end.

Erich von Küchler looked around. Most of the recuirts here were very young. They had gotten there orders to go to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Grabbing his MP40 and ammo. Then Erich grabbed his luger and put it in the holster. His squad was ready and wearing their helmets.

"Heinrich is everyone ready?"

Heinrich looked at Erich then at the other three men.

"Erich does it look like it."

Erich started to laugh with Heinrich. Then Erich gave the signal and the squad loaded up into the SdKfz 251. The halftrack moved off toward Lutherstadt Wittenberg. After many hours they finally got to the city. When the halftrack stopped Erich loaded a magazine in the MP40 and his men there Kar98s.

"Men get out were fighting the Soviets."

After walking around in the night. Erich saw something. He gave a signal to his squad. The men moved in and aimmed their weapons at the enemy. Going around the back Erich put his MP40 up to one of their heads. Erich could see one of them was wearing a SS uniform.

"Who are you?"

Lt.Bauffmann sat at the table still rolling a Lugar bullet across the table with his fingers. The sound it made was getting rather annoying,

"Patrol...arm up men we are moving to the rear of the town...the Hitler Youth stay here"

The German SS men stood up locking and loading their weapons, clicks and clacks were heard as magazines were loaded into the weapons. When the preperations were made the German soldiers left through the back door out into the pooring rain, lightening streaked the sky,

"What a nice night for a patrol..."

The troops grinned at the remark from their Lt.

Inside the hotel the 4 Hitler Youth sat in the room with 1 candle concealed on the floor, they wispered..

"You think they will come back for us?" 1 asked..

"Yes..they will not leave us to die.."

The Hitler Youth did not beleive a word he had just said. When the SS squad moved through the back door a gun was put to Bauffmanns head,

"Lt Bauffman, SS Der Fuhuer, who are you....Sergent..?"

He said straining his eyes to see the rank insignia on his shoulder boards. Bauffmanns troops trained their weapons on the man who had their commander at gun point. These days Germans were shooting other Germans every day for desertion and such.

Erich just noticed what he had done.

"Sorry sir. I'm Feldwebel Erich von Küchler."

The rest of the men walked out and into the hotel.

"Stabsunteroffizier Heinrich Heiden my second in command."

Erich pointed toward the two 17 year old years.

"That's Friedrich and Dietrich."

Then toward the 13 year old kid.

"You that kid over there he's Wagner. We are part of the Volkssturm. They have just send us in as replacements. So what were you going to do Lt Bauffman?"

Friedrich, Dietrich, and Wagner went to go over to the Hitler Youth to talk to them. While Heinrich still stood with Erich.

Bauffmann turned and went back in the hotel and took his seat back,

"Welcome to have you Sergent..as for that little misunderstanding..forget it..i need you.."

He Paused..

"We are pulling back before dawn so if any allies come their attention will drift right to this intact hotel with a shiney Bentz out front..that is when we will catch them in the fire..i have an MG-42 with 2,000 rounds and a Panzerfaust with 4 rockets avalible for use.."

He looked around the room at the soldiers,

"these are my men, Dietrich,Hydrich,Hans,Dietrich,Franz,Peaters,Danke,Wilheim,Jan and Max...they are a mix of different veteran Panzer divisions..the Hitler youth over there..i do not know their names.."

Bauffmann pushed a pack of ciggerettes towards Erich, then a zippo lighter,

"What is the word...have they discovered the camps?"

Bauffmann had visited the camps many times with his commanding officers. Before the war he was involved in clearing out the Warsaw Ghetto..a day and night he would much rather forget...

Erich looked at Bauffmann.

"What camps?"

While doing this Heinrich went over with his squadmates. He looked at the Hilter Youth.

"I use to be like you. So what is your name?"

in a ditch outside the village of Leitendorf, 20 Kms from Bonn.

Major Heinrich Jager has his remaining SS Panzer troops in hiding while he thought about what to do next.

Their black tanker uniforms were a liability in the daytime and in these snowy conditions making them look like rats trying to escape the trap.

He smiled ironicaly and mutters "thats what we are. A rat trying to survive another day"

They had taken out 10 Shermans before their King Tigers had run out of petrol and they had to abandon their beloved steeds.

He had seen British uniforms while the fighting was going on and knew his only chance was to continue the doomed struggle and Bonn had a garrison he could join up with. He had heard tales of British troops treating SS troops without mercy so he knew he had to fight on.

His sentry, Shultz was using the field glasses and told him the coast was clear.

"move out" he orders "we've still got 20K to walk"

His 10 troops got out of the ditch and they resumed the march across a battlescarred Fatherland.

(OOC: I will also be RP'ing my own nation's forces. I will try to take on Kirisubo's (German) forces, which are a heck of a lot off of Wittenburg )

Near Bonn

A small group of Van Luxemburgian Cruiser Tanks (A41 Centurion I tanks) slowly rolled into the village of Leitendorf. The Centurions had been produced since Late 1944, when the Britsh came to the Van Luxemburgians if they could produce their newest tank. The Van Luxemburgians had agreed, while keeping a large lot for their own. Lieutenant en Premier Vollenhofer was the commander of this group, which was filled with 5 Centurions, and around 90 men.

"Jock! Königtigers ahead! We're approaching them from the back, I think that we should surprise them, maybe we can send something!"

Jock Vollenhofer aimed his binoculars at the Königstigers, and gave the "go"-code.

"Okay. Move it."

Vollenhofer knew his tanks wouldn't stand a chance if those vehicles suddenly turned around and fired. He therefore sent his soldiers in front, while the Centurions took a small road on their left, to be sure that they approached the Tigers from the side.

ooc: Van Luxemburg those King Tigers are the ones I had to abandon. They're empty but you don't know that :)

the crew members with Major Jager are a mile away by now. you should be able to catch up with them soon.

(OOC: I certainly don't know that. That's why I tried to ambush them from the back. And since the Centurions are on their way to Bonn, you have a nice chance the SS will almost be driven over by those things.)

"Clear!"

A Soldat got on one of the Königstigers, and checked the inside.

"I think we need to get some fuel for these babies. Or should we just destroy them?"

Vollenhofer looked up from his planning on the map.

"I would say that we just ask for people to pick those thing up. We'll be passing on with our own vehicles. All! Move!"

The men quickly jumped on, and the tanks drove on. A rather large group of men stayed with the Königstigers, to protect them from the Germans, possibly willing to capture them back. they weren't part of Vollenhofer's group, and waited for their own commander.

The Centurions drove on, reaching their maximum speed of some 38 km/h. Jock and his men carefully checked the horizon, on which the smoking ashes of the city of Bonn could be seen. Then, Jock's thought were ripped a part by a voice.

"Sir! Black persons! Half a Kilometre out!"

Jock aimed his binoculars, like the rest of his command, on the silhouettes.
When the men came into view, their uniforms clearly showed they were German Tankers.

"Our welcoming commitee... Guys! I think we should lend them a hand!"

The Centurions kept in their usual column, and the men seated on the vehicles checked their Stenguns, Brenguns and the occasional No. 4.

Major Jager took a look at the enemy panzers that his sentries had spotted.

"Centurions and half tracks" he says and then orders "Bernhoffer, Mahler it looks like you'll have something to shoot at soon"

The bakooza crew grinned although they felt naked without a King Tigers armour and an 88.

the Germans kept moving until they reached the tree line near the road ready to ambush the panzers on the only road they could take.

Kar 98's and MP40's were readied, the bazooka being loaded as well.

A scout went ahead and half hidden in a snow hole he kept watch with the other set of binoculars.

The Centurions progressed slowly, and the men had already took the time to aim. Then, Jock came up from the hidings in the tank, and put his hands to his mouth.

"Deutsche SS! Dies sind Van Luxemburgischen Einheiten! Nicht schiessen Bitte! Waffen weg! Wir sollen nicht schiessen!"*

*= "German SS! These are Van Luxemburgian units! Please Don't shoot! Put your weapons away! We won't shoot!"

Jock then shortly signalled downwards, which was the signal for the gunners to load the .30's inside the hull, for an eventual firing.

ooc : where does Van Luxenbourg fit in here? are they axis or allies?

ic: Major Heinrich Jager was briefly puzzled and send the bazooka team to a secure firing position so they could take out the lead panzer if needed.

two men with panzerfausts had moved to attacking positions at the rear of the column and a soldier with a kar 98 was ready to snipe at exposed crewmen or infantry.

All was set if the attack was needed

OOC: Allies. They have British weaponry, but Van Luxemburg is a partly German-speaking nation.

IC:

The Centurions stopped, and the infantry jumped off. They approached the Germans, with their rifles on the back. They were followed by the abrrels of the .30 MG's inside the tanks, to prevent an ambush set-up by the Germans.

Jock had retreated into the tank, and grabbed his radio. He tried to contact Van Luxemburgian personnel in Leitendorf, aswell as the main Command HQ, to send the Königstigers, if ready, and some airsupport, if available.

"Beta 2, This is Beta 1. You have those cats running yet?"

"Negative. The stuff isn't in those tanks yet. It really swallows fuel..."

"Roger. Papa, do you have Air support?"

"Negative. I expect to have a Fokker Tactical Bomber into the air in one to one-and-a-half hour."

Jock sighed. They were alone, except for the Germans.

the SS tankers had weapons aimed at the Van Luxemburgers waiting on the order to fire.

They may have been allied troops but war was sometimes strange.

Major Jager says "I'm Major Heinrich Jager, tenth SS panzer corp and i'm wondering why I haven't shot up your tank column yet.

Is there an officer I can speak to?"

One of the soldiers, who offered Jager a cigarette, answered.

"Well, my commander is in that tank over there. a moment."

The soldier turned around, and shouted at the Centurion.

"Jock! They're asking for you here!"

A few seconds later, the hatch opened, and Jock Vollenhofer turned out. he quickly got off the tank, and slowly walked in the direction of the soldier who called him, meanwhile lighting a cigar.

"Gutentag? Könnte Ich Ihr und Ihre Männer mit etwas helfen?"*
*= "Good day? Can I help you and your men with something?"

Vollenhofer looked at the SS Lieutenant from top to bottom, before blowing the smoke of his cigar in the face of the Van Luxemburgian sergeant who was next to him.

"Dass war eigentlich für Dich, aber sie sind Deutsch, und Ich auch. Ach, Gute Zeit."*
*= "That was actually for you, But you're German, and I'm aswell. Oh, good times."

Major Jager introduces himself again and accepts the cigarette.

"we certainly are Germans but war can be strange" he replies "how come you're with the Allies and not the Fatherland?"

Jock turned to his Sergeant, which was still coughing of the smoke made by the cigar.

"Well, we didn't join in with the Fatherland, cause they attacked us. In 1940, your Führer rather attacked a less prepared nation, Van Luxemburg, then the British. We have beaten them back, and now we're here. I would say, an interesting turn of events."

the major laughs and says "the gods of war have been kind to you and less kind to us. Still we have our duty to the Fatherland to perform and theres Yankees and Tommies out there to greet"

He offers Jock his hipflask and says "peach schnapps. its not the best but in war you make do.

If we leave you alone you could leave us alone. Deal?"

Jock put his cigar out on the road, and accepted the Schnapps.

"Ah. I accept your proposal. You know, This reminds me of the early days. Now, we have this."

Vollenhofer handed a small, plastic, camouflaged bottle to Jager.

"It's our finest Wine. I hope that that could come in good for you. It's red Wine, just so you know."

He then pulled out his Walther PPK, a license-produced weapon for the Van Luxemburgian Army, and scribbled his name on it with a pen. He then handed it to Jager.

"A present. Maybe you can use it once. I now have to go, I maybe see you around. Heck, if you want, visit Van Luxemburg after the war."

He greeted Jager, and slowly looked around.
"I hear the rumble of other tanks. probably your Königstigers. We recovered them. I advise you to get out of here. Those men could be a bit loose-handed on the trigger, if you know what I mean."

Major Jager smiles and says "I'll put your wine to good use. Its certainly better than the French stuff i had to stomach before. I'll visit you if i'm still alive to tell war stories."

He goes into a pocket of his leather jacket and writes his address down on an old beer mat.

"You can pay me a visit after the war if my town is still standing" he says.

He salutes Jock and adds "take care of our steeds for us"

He and his men slip out without a sound heading across the snow covered fields ready to continue the fight.

"I'll do!"

Jock saw the men vanishing, while the Königstigers rolled in behind him.

"Guys, I guess we'll keep our mouth shut about this." he turned from his men to the commander on one of the Tigers.

"Okay, now, what's the plan?"

"I would suggest that we roll on to Bonn."

"Okay! All, load up, we're leaving for Bonn!"

The rumbling of the Tigers stumbled together with the Centurions, and the tanks drove off, in the direction of Bonn...

as night falls Major Jager's men find an abandoned small farm and decide to hole up for the night.

their sniper gets onto the roof of the farm house so he can see anyone coming and two sentries patrol the farm.

as most of his men get sleep or food the Major vowed to meet up with the Van Luxenburgers after the war if he survived.

He drinks some of the red wine and nods his approval recapping the bottle. It certainly was superior to the French stuff..

The men decided on heading to town. They move at night in the rubble, Lt. Hareade armed with a Winchester Riot, lead his men on the recon of the town.

Lt Bauffman looked the Sergent right in the eyes and replyed with a horrifyed look,

"Aschwitz....Bergen Belsen?...THE CONCENTRAITION CAMPS!"

Bauffmann slammed his gloved fist down on the table, slowly he calmed down..

"If they have gentleman...we all are in serious trouble, JUST because we are part of the SS"

Lt Bauffmann looked at the Sergent,

"Sergent please ready your men...."

The Hitler youth boys that lay on the floor looked up at the soldiers,

"My name is Jurgen..don't leave us!..please.."

He pleeded with the soldier with wide eyes, the other one just stayed still with his back to the wall. Dietrich walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, with that..he just slid sideways down the wall and his upper body slumped to the floor,

"Herr Leiutennet! the Hitler Youth with the belly wound is dead.."

Bauffmann strolled over nudging the boy with his jackboot,

"Our holy father, and protector.." The men said at the same time..

The other 3 Hitler Youth knew they did not want to end up like their commrade, once again the boy looked at the soldier who asked his name(Canadstien),

"Pleeease...i will fight i am not scared.." He wisped so Bauffmann couldn't hear him

On the table the SS Leiutennet had a map stretched out,

"Ok Sergent..what do you suggest we do in this situation..i am open to ideas.."

Bauffmann wisped so the men couldn't hear him..

Heinrich looked at Jurgen. He wondered what the SS was doing to this young men.

"Jurgen what are this men doing to you?"

Wagner, Dietrich, and Friedrich came closer to hear what Jurgen was going to say. Wagner pulled out his water and offered it to Jurgen. Dietrich and Friedrich holstered their guns and took off their helmets.


Erich looked at the map. Then he saw Heinrich was talking to the Hilter Youth boys.

"Well Bauffmann the war is doomed. The cause is pointless now. We should got to the Western Front to fight and if we surrender we will be treated with respect by the Americans. Also have you recieved any messages from high command?"

The Centurions and Königstigers head through the snow-covered lands. With a farmhouse in the distance, Vollenhofer though that this wasn't bad at all.
He put up his hand, as a sign that they had to stop. He pointed at a large field, covered with crispy snow. Slowly, the Centurions and Königstigers drove onto the field, and took up defensive positions.

"Okay. resting time. All Königstigers take our left and back, the Centurions the rest. All men need to set up tents. Put up a fire there, but a small one. We'll guard in runs of two hours a group. Move!"

Then, Vollenhofer sat down next to one of his colleagues, which had been driving the Königstigers.

"I had a strange encounter, last day..."

"What was it, Ghosts?"
Vollenhofer grinned.
"No. The German SS'ers from which you took the Tigers. Nice guys. They must be somewhere around."

"Ah. Well, Where have you sent them?"

"Nowhere. They have gone out of free will. I hope I will meet them again..."

"Yes.. We all have dreams."

And with that trivial answer, Vollenhofer and his colleague got to dinner.

Jurgen looked worried,

"They will leave us here alone for the Russians!...my commrades and i were responsible for destryoing two T-34 tanks and we made our way through the rubble here and met Lt Bauffmann.."

The other Hitler Youth looked terrifyed, Jurgen accepted the water canteen,

Bauffmann shook his head slowly,

"Berlin..no..i do not have a radio..i was on my way to the capital when an American fighter dove at the staffcar killing my Captian and the driver..that Mercedes out front..yes.."

Bauffmann paused then slid his finger across the map to the west,

"We will go west...away from the Russians...Sergent..don't you feel tired some times..."

The Candle light flickered off the walls, the sound of a bomb raid sirin sounded far off in the distance..then explosion after explosion. Bauffmann looked around at ll the faces of the men,

"I fear only for the worst Sergent..."

Bauffmann removed his SS officers cap and sat down at a piano bench, he moved his hands key to key eventully breaking into 'Moon Light Sinata'...The music notes carried though the room easing the tention...

Heinirich talked to Jurgen then moved over to Erich. He talked to Erich, then Erich went over to Bauffmann.

"Lt. I will take the three Hilter Youth under my command. Also tommorrow we will move out in the morning. One of my men will go get a halftrack to move the rest of the men."

the sniper using the binoculars spots the Van Luxemburg armoured column and tells a sentry who then tells his Major.

"I'll stick to the deal we made" Heinrich Jager says "but don't draw attention to ourselves"

He settles down to a nap now that the danger has passed for the night.

Bauffmann gave a strange look to Erich and stoped the music..

"They...i have posted them here Sergent...they will hold this building for when reinforcements arrive.."

He stuttered slowly..His real intent was if the squad were followed the Hitler Youth would take the fall here at the Hotel. Bauffmann looked at the 3 boys sitting in the shadows,

"You boys have been tasked and will be honored greatly when General Jodel arrives with a new Panzer Division!"

All the troops in the room now gave the Lt. their un-divided attention,

"Yes..Jodel is comming with an entire Panzer Division, i didn't want to spoil the suprize yet.."

Bauffmann light a ciggerette smiling for once he looked around the room,

"Yes it is true! General Jodel is going to rescue the 3rd Reich..you boys names will be in history as the ones who received him.."

Bauffmann did not want to leave the boys but he thought it be in their best intrest. He wanted to save the rashions for combat troops so they would not have to fight on emty stomachs.

Late at night, when everyone was already asleep, Vollenhofer was brutally awaked by one of the soldiers standing guard. He immediately was pulled onto one of the Centurion's, got a Binocular in his hands, and pointed what was happening.

"It looks like that farmhouse is guarded. we saw some movement."

As Jock looked through the Binoculars, he clearly sighted a soldier which he had seen that day, during his encounter with Jager.

"Leave them alone. It's Jager."

"Jager?"

"I'll explain you tomorrow. get on with your duty, that one is not important."

the next day comes round and using white sheets taken from the farm house the panzer soldiers make white camo ponchos for themselves so they don't stand out as much.

Major Jager laughs and says "the last time I dressed up like this was before the great war", his men understanding the joke.

the grizzled veteran leads his men out of the farm house taking the back road to Bonn, only 10K away.

Friedrich walked at the door and headed toward the main depot. He was going to get a halftrack. In the morning he would return. Heinrich, Wagner, and Dietrich with Jurgen were upstairs. Heinrich took watch while Wanger slept and Dietrich talked with Jurgen. Seeing a outline of a human he aimmed and fired. The human fell over to the ground. Dietrich looked at him then back at Jurgen.

"How long have you been fighting?"

Meanwhile Erich took of his helmet and drank some water from his canteen. He checked his weapon then walked over to Bauffmann.

"Get some good sleep tonight. Friedrich went to go get a halftrack and will arrive in the morning. There is no panzer division is there?"

The next morning, the troops moved out again. They had been told the complete story of Major Jager, And were watching if they could find him, to avoid A strange sort of Friendly Fire. The heavy tanks, most notably the King Tigers, ran out of fuel quickly. Therefore, a few trucks loaded with fuel joined the convoy. Together, they moved out to Bonn It was one of the last checkpoints for the Van Luxemburgians, but they had to move on.

Jurgen thought for a moment,

"I have been fighting for 10 days..we are all that is left of this towns unit.."

He stared off in space,

"For the Girl Hitler Youth group, i seen 3 die yesterday..very pretty girls.."

Bauffman looked at Erich with sorrow in his eyes,

"No...the 15th is trapped and if they were going to try anything..it would be to Berlin to rescue the Fuhuer..those boys must stay if they try and run..it's desertion..shoot them...please understand Sergent..i am going to leave before you so insure they stay,..they still have hope.."

Bauffmanns eyes went from blue to grey slowly...or so it looked.

The Leiutennets troops prepared to leave the hotel through the rear and head towards Bonn. Franz from Bauffmanns squad walked around wishing Erichs troops good luck,

"Good luck to you all..we will see you near Bonn again?"

One of the wounded Hitler Youth woke up,

"Save us..im scared.."

Franz looked around the room then back at the young man, he knelt down,

"Take this..for i know your bravery is ten times the level of mine"

Franz opened his great coat and removed his Iron Cross placing it in the boys hand closing his fingers around it. The young Hitler Youth smiled and leant back against the wall. Franz stood up and headed over to get his MG42.

Major Jager and his soldiers trudge towards Bonn. Oddly enough they meet no one for a few kms until they run into a pair of young Wehrmacht privates.

"Heil Hitler" they say when they salute the Major, Jager returning the German greeting.

"Whats going on?" he asks them and gets bad news.

"Bonn has fallen to the US and British forces" he's told "we're heading south to try and get home"

Jager nods and says "We'll travel with you for a while. Bonn is a lost cause but there may be troops still fighting elsewhere"

Jager gives the two soldiers some of his meagre rations and they join the group for a short while changing direction and heading due south.

ooc: they have MP40's, extra clips and grenades and not much else apart from the uniforms on their backs. They'll only be around for a few posts.

Heinrich had seen any combat and looked at Jurgen. Then he pointed toward the boy who had gotten the Iron Cross.

"What's wrong with your other squadmate?"

Back down stairs Erich said good bye to Franz.

"You take care ok?"

Erich went back upstairs and saw the rest of his men with the Hitler Youth. Now there was three additions to his squad. Then turning toward Jurgen who seemed to be the leader he asked.

"You are part of our squad Jurgen."

A few miles out of Bonn.

A whisper is heard in the trees, "Sir, we have movement on that hill over there."

Sgt. Taylor Grant whipped himself around. "It's not a Kraut squad is it?" He stared through the trees, looking for the sighting.

"I'm not sure sir, I saw them through these." Crp. Andrew Hale handed Taylor the binoculars.

Grant took a long look. After his pause he remarked, "We go company allright, very hard to see with the white camo they're wearing. Germans I reckon." His country drawl added intensity to his words.

The Manhattan raised Crp. asked the all important question, "Orders sir?"

"I'm not sure how many of 'dem we got. Watts! Wire! Take a look at this." He handed the binoculars to the privates.

Niel Wire was the first to speak, "We got some Krauts fo' sure. I recommend we stay low though, looks like six or seven of them... maybe more?"

Daniel Watts got to look second, "I don't like it either Sgt... I agree with Niel, but it's your decision."

"I have to agree with both you Yanks'... (although I hate to admit a Northerner is right) but we shouldn't make an offensive move quite yet. We'll trail 'em.... probably headed west if they know what's good for 'em."

So the four Americans watched and waited... they would follow the Germans until the time was right to make a move.

Major Jager leads his team heading towards the mountains south of Bonn. they were all tired and very short of food but still eager to continue the fight and avoid capture.

with a rear guard and a point man they were moving cautiously trying to stay on snow covered ground as long as possible so they would be less noticeable.

ooc: Geneticon they're not moving very fast and still around 30 miles from the mountains. theres 13 in the party

Lutherstadt, Near the Bombed out Hotel

The sound of a half-track engine filled the air as a single half-track rolled through the streets. Lt. Fischer glanced nervously upwards, expecting American jaboes to show up at any moment. He spotted the hotel up ahead, zeroing in on the large flag. He pointed, tapping the driver on the shoulder.

"Hey, head for that hotel. Maybe there's someone there."

The driver nodded. Fischer looked back at his men. They all looked bone tired and rather uncomftorable packed in like sardines. It had been neccessary to fit all the men inside. With a final grumble the half-track pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. his men jumped down, stretching tired limbs. Fischer noted the Mercedes-Benz parked out front...Huh, bullet holes in the wind-shield, too bad.

"Check the car for gas!" he told one of his men, who nodded and trotted towards it.

"How far to the American lines, do you thank, Herr Leutenant?" Shutze Heinrich asked.

Fischer shook his head silently in reply before turning to Oberfeldwebel Weber, "Weber, take some volounteers and check the hotel. See if there are any Nazi pukes hiding inside." He leaned against the halftrack, cradling his Ppsh. He lit a ciggerate as his men spread out, watching the buildings.

Weber grumbled good naturedly and pointed at three of the rifle toting men in his squad.

"You three have been volunteered. Let's go."

He walked into the main enterance of the hotel, kicking aside and abandoned hat. Silently, he moved towards the stairs, peering upwards. "Heinrich! You got first, we'll cover you."

The young man nodded and started moving up the stairs, nback pressed against the wall and rifle aimed as the others covered him. He reached the landing, and motioned for the others to join him. Quickly, they darted upwards and began the process again, until they reached the first floor.

Peering own the corridor, Weber motioned another pair of men forward, frowning as he heard the low murmur of voices. He pushed the door open with the muzzle of his MP-40, slently thanking God when he saw the German uniforms, then silently cursing when he realised they were SS.

"Guten morgen." He said sarcastically. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"

ooc: Geneticon they're not moving very fast and still around 30 miles from the mountains. theres 13 in the party

OOC: Yeah... the Americans will likely hang back until there is a reason to move closer. Seeing how you have a rear point man... there is actually a possiblity of your man spotting mine... as if I see you, you can likely see me.

We've only seen about 6 of your men... a rough calculation after seeing them from a great distance, it was hard to tell with the camo... so the characters only believe you have about 7 soldiers.

Jager's squad stops at a road and take cover behind a hedge while the point man checks ahead.

A nod of the mans head tells Jager that the coast is clear but the rear guard shakes his head.

"Major i seen figures in green trailing us. probally Yankees. theres at least 3 of them possibly more"

Jager muses and says quietly "Yankees usually have food and cigarettes. If they're dead they won't need them"

he looks at his sniper, nods and sends one of the Wehrmacht men with his marksman.

the sniper even without a scope could pick out the figures but was unhappy about the range. He waited for the Americans to come closer hoping he was well enough camoflaged to avoid being spotted himself. The spotter uses the binoculars to tell the sniper theres 4 of them.

ooc: i'm not sure off the distance between us but my sniper can pick out targets without a scope up to about 800 metres range. The Wehrmacht spotter is wearing field grey.

"Sir, they've paused." Niel reported.

Taylor held up his hand, "Hold up, let's see what they're planning."

Niel looked through the field piece at the Germans, they seemed wary of something. "SIR!!! They've spotted us!"

The four Americans dove for a nearby abandoned road cart.

"This isn't much, but it will have to do." Taylor looked around at his surroundings. A domestic house was on the other side of the street. If they could reach it...

At least there we will stand a chance...

"Niel, Daniel, Andrew... get across to that establishment, I'm gonna lay down some covering fire. Wire, when you get across fire a 'nade at the center of the road, it should provide enough covered for me to get across." The plan was simple... they had practiced it hundreds of times, but here was the moment of truth.

Taylor looked down at his Thompson. The submachine gun wouldn't reach at this distance, but perhaps the Germans would duck under fire.

"All right... GO GO GO!!!" Taylor screamed the order, perhaps the enemy would be startled after the prolonged silence.... he was banking on the nerves of the Germans being unreliable.

In a split second he threw himself to his feet and sprayed a clip in the direction of the enemy... he had quite a bit of cover from the cart, and only an expert sniper could hit him at this range under this cover. He prayed that the enemies were not very skilled.

The bullets flew towards their targets, but fell well wide. At the same moment of the firing, the other three squad members made a mad dash for the building.

This had better work.... Graham thought as his gun made its presence known.

Comrade Sargeant Mstislav Grigori was on a very simple mission. His comrade in military command had decided to send out small units in advance of the Red Army. Their mission? That was to kill every german solider that got in their way. EVeryone knew that the Germans did not have enough men, so they had started to use children to fight. So his comarades had ordered him to take a squad and try to kill every german solider, but to concentrate on officers.

There were only two things Mstislav Grigori was thankful for on this mission. One, he did not have a commisar looking over his shoulder. Two, he could finally take as much revenge as he wanted, on the Nazi soliders.

Sargeant Grigori had 8 comrades with him. They were in a good mood today, last night they had actually been able to sleep in real beds.

As they trudged through the hills towards a nearby town, Grigori dropped back to talk to Sasha. Sasha was also a sargeant in the 23rd sniper division. The only female in the squad and probably had the most education, she could speak German and English fluently. She also had what she called a Corpa Diam way of living, which made her fun to live with. He chatted with her for a while until they came to a grove of trees. Grigori moved up front and with hand-signals told every one to crouch and move forward with caution. He also motioned for Andrei to cover them with his DP-28. Everyone readied their weapons and moved in. After 5 minutes of searching Grigori was pretty sure the only thing he had to worry about here were squirrels.

He ordered Sasha to climb a tree and figure out where the town was and what the lay of the land was. Grigori was thinking of stopping here for lunch, but then Sasha dropped down and said, "Grigori, German Nazis are attacking allied soliders." Grigori drew one last breath from the cigarrete then flicked it onto the ground, then he ordered, "Take us to them Sasha."

the spotter gauged the distance and wasn't worried about the smg fire. he tracked one American to the cart and 3 more trying to reach the house across the road and told his Major.

he called over the bazooka squad and said "it may not be a tank but you've got something to shoot at"

they fired and the rocket was on its way to the American position, the sniper ready to mop up if anyone else poked out their heads.

The rest of the squad moved out the Major included onto the road ready to intercept the Americans.

Jurgen looked over at his squad mate and replyed to Henrich,

"He is missing 3 fingers on his left hand...a tank shell came too close.."

When Jurgen heard he and his commrades were allowed to join Erichs squad they were given hope,

"Won't Lt Bauffmann shoot you for disobeying him?...."

Bauffmann turned to the new arrival, a Whermacht squad with a Leiutennet leading them,

"Ahh yes wonderful morning...always a joy to see the Whermacht is still operating these days.."

Bauffmann replyed to the Whermacht Lt giving him an arrogant look,

The heavy Centurion tanks thundered over the small road. They were quickly followed by several Königstigers, which had stocked up on ammo in Bonn. They had little part in the capture of Bonn, and now were on their way East, to take more land. Above them, a lone Fokker group, consisting of a T.V light-bomber and two G.1 fighters, circled around. they had been called in as part of the Van Luxemburgian airforce. As Vollenhofers squad was one of the only Van Luxemburgian ones on the Front, it was quite important that they had good support.

At the checkpoint in Bonn, his squad had received the latest Van Luxemburgian clothing, aswell as camouflage patterns for the tanks. Now, the Centurions and Tigers had been coloured the right way, while the Tigers had the words "Vum Lëtzebuerger Armeí" on their hull, to indicate they weren't German. Also, some men in the group had been equipped with a new weapon, The AL1. It was a sort-of copy of the Stg. 44, with some features that had been improved.

Now, the vehicles raced over the roads, steadily heading eastwards. They were on their way to victory...

The Brydog troops were wearing their standard brown uniforms with black RG hats. They notice the bombout hotel, and saw a staff car. They decided to camp out in the rubble across the street from it. They would watched the hotel for anything.

Erich faced Jurgen.

"Well he will never know. We are not moving east. We are moving away from the combat. We are heading south to Bavaria. There is no combat. The cause is hopeless and lost. He also gave me to order to shoot you if you left well I wouldn't be following that. So get some rest also Jurgen what are the names of your two comardes? Also what kind of weapons do you have?"

While doing this Heinrich was near the wounded Hitler Youth. Wagner and Dietrich were talking with the other member.

"Does anything hurt? Also have you seen any League of German Girls members."

About half way to the depot Friedrich was making he way along. He was going to get SdKfz 251. Making his way he found the depot yard and got into a SdKfz 251 with orders from high command he found from a dead soliders. Getting inside Friedrich went the way he came.

Jurgen smiled and replyed to the Sergent,

"We have STG44's and a nice sum of ammo.."

The wonded Hiter Youth boy looked at his bandaged hand,

"I can't feel it...I seen one of the girls shoot herself through the head....i went to school with her..Inge...was her name.."

Bauffmann stood in the kitchen of the hotel with his squad,

"Alright men...we will move westwards soon, prepare yourself for the march..gather as much food as you can.."

Jurgen then answeared the question he was asked,

"Their names are Amon and Ralph..Ralph is the wounded one, his father was some big shot SS Major..."

Heinrich knew that Ralph was badly wounded. Wagner gave Ralph his canteen, the he went to sleep and Dietrich did so too.

"Where does it hurt on your hand?"


Erich faced Jurgen.

"Do you know the location of any League of German Girls members? Also tell Amon to sleep."

Sasha was still on top of the hill, while the rest of the squad began to move down it, slowly and cautiously. They were heading around to see if they could flank the bazoka carrying Nazi's. They were about halfway up the where the Nazi's were when they heard the first bazoka go off. Then they started to charge up the hill when they heard the repot of Sasha's rifle. They knew she was alone out there and they needed to wipe the German scum off the face of the planet. They crested the ridge of the hill and opened fire on the greman scum with the PPSh-41's submachine guns. ALexzander fired with his TT-33 pistol because the ammo for his anit-tank gun were to precious to be spent on regualer Nazi's. Dimitri readied a grenade to throw it.

ooc: Canadstein i believe this is the info you're after

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bund_Deutscher_M%C3%A4del

theres now 9 left after this post.

ic: the Heer (regular army) soldiers go down along with the tanker carrying the bazooka and the sniper.

the rest of Major Jagers men hit the deck and crawl into the cover of the hedges, the major included.

"Ivans" he mutters while he works out where the fire is coming from. knowing that surrender was not an option here he popped up and fired a short controlled burst at the closest Russsian with his MP40 before ducking down again.

his men copied his example and kept in cover as much as possible.

two Comet Is (http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedkingdom/cruiser/comet.html) arrived to support the 10 men. The tanks were what the troops needed. One tank fired a round into the hotel.

OOC:Only the sarge and 3 other men are inside the hotel talking wiht you guys, the rest are outside with the halftrack.

IC:

Pieter laughed. "Operating? Nothing's operating anymore. The damned jabos kill anything that trys to move during the day and the Ruskis are hot on our tails."

Ralph moved his wrist side to side,

"I cannot feel anything at all..a burning sensation once and a while..."

Ralph studied the Sergents face....

Jurgen leant his STG44 against a near by wall and slumped into a chair,

"We had 20 female members in this towns group...ive seen 3 dead..and the rest who knows...the Russians are the ones who most likely have them now.."

Danke from Bauffmanns squad turned around,

"Naw, the Russians let them go..i have seen it!"

Jurgen peered out the window down the street watching for movement. Lt Bauffmann stood with his Sergent in a back room disscussing where they would go when all of a sudden a tank shell slammed into the hotels walls,

"Allied Panzer!! everyone ouuuut!!!" Yelled Jurgen....

Bauffmann tackled the Whermacht officer to the floor as bits and peices flew everywhere,

"We are sitting ducks! back door! MOVE !! yelled Bauffmann

The men followed the Comets and headed to a hotel with a staff car parked outside of it.

"There might be officers in the buliding, first we show. Then if needed, we strom the buliding." said the Lt.

The lead tank's commander was a man by the name of Lt. Col. John C. Handstand.

Bauffmans troops flew out the back door except Dietrich who aimed his panzerfaust and fired at the leading tank,

*Wooooosh...BLAM!* the shell struck the front end of the tank

"Fall back!" Yelled Bauffmann

Bauffmann ran out the back door and removed his SS officers jacket replacing it with a SS Corporals. Quickly he stuffed his uniform jacket under a large pile of rubble. He quickly sorted himself out and moved off behind the hotel with his squad...

The tank was hit, lucky the Lt. Col. got out in time. He suffered some burns. The 11 men and tank started firing. The black hat soldiers yelled curse words at the Germans while firing.

Erich got up and got his MP40, helmet, and supplies. Wagner and Dietrich were up with Amos.

"Wagner, Amos I want you to get your stuff and go to the backdoor and out. Dietrich, Heinrich get your stuff and put Ralph on the stretcher and outside. Jurgen get Ralph's stuff and come with me to get some supplies"

Wagner and Amos were already going down the stairs. Heinrich and Dietrich put Ralph on a stretcher and were behind Wagner and Amos. Erich and Jurgen went dowstairs and got some food and water out of the kitchen. Wagner, Amos, Dietrich, Heinrich, and Ralph were outside when Erich and Jurgen came out.

"Ok man we better run. Fredtrich is coming this way with a halftrack."

Then he started to ran with his men behind him.

Dimitri had the best throwing arm that Grigori had ever seen. Back in his old town he had always won the javelin contest. Nowadays he threw a much more potent weapon. The grenade flew high into the air, Nichloi began sreaming as a bullet hit him in the leg. Grigori shouted to his men in russian, "Cover!" All the men hit the ground and scarmbled behind cover as the grenade exploded.

Belltower

The German Obergrenadier lay prone in the belltower of the church near the town's center. He had been laying there for most of two days now, moving only enough to drink or to eat, and to relieve himself through a crack in the floorboards under him.

Cradled in his arms, propped on a fallen beam, was a K43 rifle with a sniper scope mounted on it. His expressionless face was positioned by the weapon, both eyes open but peering through the scope at the infantry fighting three stories below in the streets, still four hundred meters away.

Obergrenadier Dolf Oust had enlisted in 1939, in time to participate as a young Grenadier in the invasion of Poland, and then of France. Promoted to Obergrenadier in 1940 and then to Unteroffizier in 1942, Oust had been a rather remarkable soldier for the Furhur. Braving allied gunfire on several occasions, he had always managed to escape somehow unscathed, not so much as a bullet hole in his jacket. His personal scorecard had marked down sixteen allied infantrymen, a pair of tank officers and one Captain that had been a little too bold for his own good.

In September of 1942, an inccident had caused his immediate, but generally honorable demotion back to Obergrenadier, which he felt he would remain until his retirement when the allies were pushed out of Europe and the war ended.

***

Now though, concealed well, he could pick his targets. The T-shaped sights brushed over one Allied private, then settled on the outline of the man who had managed to escape the tank. The fellow looked a bit burnt up, but intact. Still though, he posed no real threat.

Instead, Oust's index finger slowly squeezed as the rifle's sights settled on the chest of a rifleman firing at the German squad retreating. *bam*

A single shot fired, no more. It would not do to give away his position.

Major Jager popped his head up again to see the Russians had also taken cover.

He pops back down and takes the pin out off a 'potato masher' and throws the grenade roughly where he heard the first explosion.

He heard the explosion and using hand signals orders his men to advance under the cover of the hedgerows to try and out flank them and to find the sniper that started the attack.

Major Jager popped his head up again to see the Russians had also taken cover.

He pops back down and takes the pin out off a 'potato masher' and throws the grenade roughly where he heard the first explosion.

He heard the explosion and using hand signals orders his men to advance under the cover of the hedgerows to try and out flank them and to find the sniper that started the attack.

You threw a grenade among your own men?

where are we blade? ask pvt smith.
i keep telling you i don't know the lieutenant and sage new but they are dead blown up along with the maps in the ambush and you 3 and me are all that is left yelled pvt blade.(ps hedgerow combat was in france against the ailles not the russians)

OOC: Bump.

The rocket roared to the American position.

Taylor's SMG fire was effective enough to get his friends accross the road, but he was now behind a cart which provided little or none protection to a rocket.

The range was farther than ideal for the bazooka round, and it flew off course. Directly into a tree. The tree snapped like a twig in the face of a rocket... the top half of it crashed into the domestic home that Grant's squadmates had just reached.

When Taylor saw the carnage he cursed. The two story building was only half of a two story building now... had his team made it through?

Gunfire errupted on the street, but it wasn't aimed at him, or fired by him. Taylor peeked his head over the cart and noticed that someone was shooting at the German position.

An explosion errupted in front of the cart which gave Sgt. Grant a considerable shock.

"Get the darn heck over here sir!" Niel! Or one his squadmates... someone had survived!

Taylor made a rush for the house while the smoke still provided him cover. With the attack of his allies, and the cover of the grenade, Taylor fully expected to reach the damaged building safely.

Belltower

There. More movement. An American, dashing through the haze of smoke with a bazooka.

Oust's T-shaped sights tracked over, following the path and losing him twice behind debris and smoke. So he gave a bit of lead, and for a split second while the man was exposed, the gunsight on his torso, Oust fired another round from the sniper-version K43.

It was time to move. The belltower would become an obvious target soon, and Oust did not intend to get killed. He crawled backwards away from the opening, then began to descend the stairs down into the attic level of the church.

OOC: I'm confused... Xeno are you shooting at me?

You technically can't be.. because firstly... I'm several miles outside of any town... in a very country area. And second... I'm not carrying any bazooka... in reality I'm getting fired on by a bazooka.

OOC: I'm confused... Xeno are you shooting at me?

You technically can't be.. because firstly... I'm several miles outside of any town... in a very country area. And second... I'm not carrying any bazooka... in reality I'm getting fired on by a bazooka.

OOC: Nope. =( No one responded to my earlier post, so I decided to just shoot at a random NPC type.

OOC: ahh... ok... cool thanks!

You threw a grenade among your own men?

ooc: no comrade. he threw it where he heard your one go off.

they're still coming for you :)

(OOC: Wait a minute, are we now fighting Ruskies in West-Germany? I can't follow it anymore.)

(OOC: Wait a minute, are we now fighting Ruskies in West-Germany? I can't follow it anymore.)

ooc: yes, we now have a Russian squad involved and they're fighting Germans. Just be carefull they don't shoot at your big cats :p

(OOC: I never expected that they would surface there. Nah, I'll carry on.)

The Centurion tanks slowly moved through the countryside. Vollenhofer, the man on the lead tank, stared through his binoculars.

"Americans on Twelve. Ruskies on One. German SS on Eleven!"

The commander of the Centurion reacted by closing the hatch and moving to his position on the comm. Vollenhofer quickly jumped in another hatch, landing right next to the commander. He then picked up his radio and alarmed all other vehicles.

"All units! Spread ove rthe countryside, Tigers first! Charge on that Germans, hold fire till I command to fire. Out."

The tanks leaped ahead, and began their engagement...

Taylor rushed up to the building... the smoke had given him enough cover to safely make it accross.

He reached the main entrance and pulled the door. The scene from inside was horrific. The tree was in the middle of the house, and there was debris everywhere.

"Over here sir," someone yelled...

Taylor dashed down a hall that had miraculously stayed intact and truned the corner. The sight turned his stomach. Stooping over the body of Niel Wire, Daniel was attempting to move a large piece of the tree. It would be useless.

When the tree had exploded, many of it pieces had shreded, rather in large pieces, and as it crashed into the house, a large shard about 3 feet in diameter had actually staved Niel in the chest as the tree collapsed on top of him. It was too late. Niel was dead.

The realization swept of Taylor... another member of his team hadn't made it.

Grant was lost in the moment, but was stirred when he heard the voice of a female.

"I cannot bear to look at him." She said in German.

Taylor looked up to see a young woman, probably in her early twenties, standing on the other side of what was left of Niel.

A woman here in the middle of a war zone?

But that was how it was far too often, civilians would get caught in the middle. The house was obviously owned by this German girl (or her family) and the Americans had just taken possesion of it.

Before Taylor could respond, he heard the voice of his Crp.

"Sir, I hear the rumble of tanks!"

Taylor responded instantly, thinking very quickly, and speaking his best German, "Ma'am, we don't know if those are friends or foes, We need to get as far back away from the road as possible."

It appeared that she was a quick thinker too. Without hesistation she spoke, "This way."

She led the three surviving men over the tree shards to a rear bedroom that had not been damaged. As they reached it, she went to leave.

"No," Taylor said in German, and grabbing her by the arm, "It is not safe out there, you must stay here until the tanks pass."

"Halt the movement! Cover us!"

Vollenhofer shouted for his life, while grabbing his AL1 and getting all other infantry in action. The Centurion and Königstiger tanks now formed a line in front of the house, while carefully standing on the road, in the column they came. Meanwhile, Vollenhofer was thinking. His mind had gone crazy.

If this is Jager again, either of us will need to break our agreement. Otherwise, the US Army will become suspicious.

He stormed inside the building, assited by a Brengunner and a group of Sten-equipped infantry.

"Clear the Building! Any troops need to be either arrested or supported! No shooting until fired at!"

Vollenhofer and his Brengunner vanished to the back of the building, while others spread over the house.

Some minutes later, Vollenhofer and his complete group reached the last room. A bedroom. They bashed the door, and stormed inside, quickly checking the room. There, a few remanants of an American squad were seated with a German girl.

Lt. Col. Handstand took command of 15 men, 5 of them crewing the Comet. Two men checked the buliding, one with a Thompson and the other with a Browning Auto 5, belonging to Handstand. They decided to move out of the town and head back to their HQ, the schoolhouse.

Grant stood as the soldiers stromed into the room...

Enemies?

He didn't know... but he could see through the open door that they were driving Tiger tanks.

Oh great... probably Germans.

As the door had slammed open, suprisingly the girl had leapt to her feet and embraced him, obviously she was very frightened. Taylor felt uncomfrotable with a foreign girl clucthing him tightly, and he was in a rather bad situation anyway.

The Crp. stood and saluted, and spoke in German. "Good morning sirs, we are the remnants of Squad Omega of the 51st Ranger. May we ask you who you are?"

Taylor prayed they were friendly, and held the girl close. He wasn't quite sure who was comforting who.

Vollenhofer looked around, and signalled to his men that they should lower their weapons. He then replied in English, with a slightly German/British accent.

"Goodmorning too. We're Taskforce Beta of the 3rd Allied Armoured Division, Van Luxemburg. May we ask what you're doing here? There's no need to flee from us. Anyways, let me introduce me. Jock Vollenhofer, Lieutenant-en-Premier of the Grand-Ducal Van Luxemburgian Army. Allied since 1940."

He then turned to his men, and shortly gave some orders.

"Okay. Witz and Jameson take this room. Labreil and his fireteam take the room on the right, in the front. Hoekman and his team take the left side, and Horven reports in at the tanks. I will stay here. Try to get the identity of the Germans."

The 16 men decided on stay at the schoolhouse. Handstand was treated for his burns. The squad's M1919A6s were placed at location in the buliding. They had one M2, that was placed near the front. The Comet was placed in a trench so it's 77mm could be used.

Friendly... they were friendly...

Taylor let out a sigh of relief. It had been a long day already.

He turned to Jock and spoke, "I am Sgt. Taylor Grant, leader of these men. This is My corporal, Andrew Hale, and that's Private Daniel Watts. We're the only surviving members of the squad.

We were following that German squad up there, hoping to be able to trap them somehow, when they discovered us and fired a bazooka round. That tree in the middle of this house is a result of the rocket. I lost a man back there, Private Niel Wire, you probably saw him."

Strangely enough the woman still was holding tight to his neck. He spoke softly to her in German, "It's okay... they are friends." And she let go, but still huddled behind him, clutching his shoulder.

Taylor explained to the Lieutenant, "She's a little shy."

She is a very beautiful girl... he thought to himself.

"Oh, that's no problem. Anyway, we've some 10 tanks standing outside, of which 5 Königstigers. We've probably captured them from those Germans that killed your men. I have seen your Private. My men will take him away. Does he need to be sent back to the US, or can he be buried here?"

Vollenhofer paused and watched his men set up the PIAT in a window.

"Anyways, I have full airsupport, aswell as those tanks. I can drop you off on the way down. Anyways, we'll seek some contact with those Germans first. Follow me, please."

Vollenhofer, closely followed by one of his men, walked to the front of the building, and linked up with the fireteams up there. The Sergeant leading the Fireteam was eager to report in, and did so.

"Sir, no shots fired as of now. Maybe the tanks keeps them away."

"Perfectly. I'll look it over later on."

Handstand looked out the window and said.

"Anders and Lindor, check at house up the road. There some tanks, but i can't make them out. There's maybe ten."

The two men started the jeep up and drove off.

"Niel needs the honor of a proper burial, we have to take him with us... he needs to be sent home.

We thank you for your offer of a lift, and we'll gladly accept it. I need to get to the nearest American outpost. I hope that's no trouble, there should be one a little west of here."

Taylor looked at the German girl behind him, "What's your name?" He asked in German.

"Anna." was the reply.

"Well Anna," Grant said with a smile, "Pack your things, quickly, we can't leave you here in the middle of a firefight, you'll be much safer with us. Hurry."

Anna left to obey the command. Taylor detected a strange fondness of the girl for him, why else would she obey the order of an American?

"Okay. That would be allright. Let me finish this first..."

Vollenhofer put his hands to his mouth, and shouted.

"Deutsche Truppen! Wie sind Sie? Machen Sie Ihr bekannt!"*
*= German Troops! Who are you? Make yourselves known!

He then turned to all emn inside the room, and made a remark, of which he was quite proud of.

"Well, that should shock them."

He laughed.

The two hear fire and duck, they head to house. They enter to see Americans and some other soldiers. They weren't wearing helmets, but the black hats.

"Don't Shoot" he yelled.

OOC: Brydog... are you axis or allies?

OOC:Allies

ooc: no comrade. he threw it where he heard your one go off.

they're still coming for you :)

Ok, so he threw the grenade where he heard my grenade go off. That grenade was thrown towards your men by Dimitri. So if you threw one where you heard mine go off you would be throwing it among your own men.

The Church

Still in the attic level, Oust crept along the old wooden floorboards, careful about where to put his booted feet. It would no do to put his leg through dryrotted wood.

At each end of the attic, round stained glass windows looked out over the east and west ends of the town.

Approaching the western window, he used the butt of his knife to carefully, gently nudge a panel of the window out, so that he can peek through and look down on the allied-held side of the city.

***

It probably would not be hurtful to add another kill to his resume at this point. Any gunfire heard from this building would be assumed to come from the belltower, which was a natural sniper perch.

He propped his K43 on the edge of the window sill, ice blue eyes staring intently, unblinking as an owl, through the scope. Scanning buildings and streets for allies.

OOC: Would it be ok for me to add Anna to my "squad" of PCs?

Ok, so he threw the grenade where he heard my grenade go off. That grenade was thrown towards your men by Dimitri. So if you threw one where you heard mine go off you would be throwing it among your own men.

ooc: how could i have thrown at my own men when i was chucking it at the russians? its going to academic after this post.

ic: "Mein Gott" Jager mutters when he sees the tanks of the Van Luxemburgers and being suddenly out gunned and out numbered.

"cease fire" he orders his men "we can't win this one. We surrender to the Van Luxemburgers"

His men accept the orders knowing its futile to fight on against overwhelming odds.

The Major takes off his camo poncho and waves it while trying not to get shot up by the russians.

"Herr Vollenhoffer we'll surrender" he shouts in German "to you but not to the Ivans"

Bauffmann decided to not even hide who he was to the allies and replaced the Corporals jacket with his own once again, if he did end up in a POW camp he would be noticed as an officer..

"We got a tank!!" Yelled Franz running out the back door of the hotel

Bauffmann grinned replacing his helmet. The Lt lead his troops carefully to the edge of town.

An American soldier sat on the ground with an arm injury beside an old petrol station,

"Hands up!" yelled Dietrich quickly shifting his rifle towards the suprized American

Bauffmann watch the wounded mans hand slide for his holster but quickly stopped when Franz put his MP40 barrel right to his head pushing his helmet slightly. Bauffmann stood there staring at the American who stared right back into his eyes, the Americans facial expression changed all of a sudden,

Hans looked at Bauffmann,

"What do we do with him Lt?"

Bauffmann took 3 steps foward and grabbed the american by both shoulders dragging him foward till he was on his knees, he then took 2 steps back,

"This is...how we deal with our enemys.."

He felt he had to make a point, no mercey..

Bauffmann withdrew his Lugar and aimed it at the face of the soldier,

*Pop,Pop*The noise of the 2 shots echoed through the air, smoke slowly drifted out of the barrel

The squad stood around looking at the American who was still on his knees hunched over frontwards, Bauffmann simply signaled his men to follow..and they did, some horrifyed by the event others glad,

"Think of the BOMBS! OUR CITYS ARE BEING REDUCED TO RUBBLE!"

Bauffman said with an angry tone, none of the men thought he had the hate to do such a thing...none of them said a word.

______________________
Hotel:Same time as above ^^^^

Jurgen fired his STG44 at the fleeing tank commander who was scrambeling out of the tank, Bauffmann had fled leaving Jergen and his commrades to move out with Henrich,

"They retreat! they run from us!!" he continued to spray outside

The wounded Hitler Youth was put on a stretcher and they fell out through the back door. Jurgen changed his clip and looked at Henrich,

"What do we do now Sergent!"

Erich looked at Jurgen.

"We are going down this road. Freitrich is going to meet us."

The men moved down the ground until they met Freitrich. They loaded Ralph inside then the rest of the men inside. Erich looked at Amos and Jurgen.

"Ok you two can get some rest. Also you too Wagner. Heinrich I want you to look after Ralph. Dietrich you check for any enemies."

Then he moved the the passagner set.

"Freitrich let's move."

Grigori saw that the Nazi was tryng to surrender to the Van Luxemborgans. Grigori made a quick desicion and shouted to his men, "Cease fire!" He then shouted to the Nazi's in broken and accented German, "Down lay your fires."

Major Jager shouts back to the Russians in Russian "Nyet Ivan, we're not surrendering to you"

Switching to German he adds "You'll just shoot us as soon as we show ourselves"

Vollenhofer, a bit surprised by the action, now ordered his men to arrest the Germans.

"Ok. Arrest them. Cease fire!"

He ran outside, covered by a group of infantry, and one of his Centurions.
He then saw Jager, seated by his men, surrendering to him.

"So, we meet again... Why do coincidences always happen to me?"

Amidst the conflict Taylor, Daniel, and Andrew rushed out with their weapons raised.

Strangely enough, it appeared that the Germans knew the Van Luxemburgians. Strange... thought Grant.

He held the Germans at gunpoint, the SMG was certainly efficient at this range. He resisted the urge to pull the trigger. These were the same men who had just killed Niel, and he actually had the power to shoot them right here and now. With the Thompson he could actually probably kill them all in one clip, but he controlled himself, and his trigger finger.

He heard a cry from the house, and slowly stpped back. "Help cover Watts, I think that's Anna calling."

He went back to the house and found here there, ready to go, her things packed.

He responded to her readiness with a smile and the words, "Very good, we will leave as soon as our friends leave."

He turned and faced Vollenhofer, who was talking with the German, "Hey, when are we moving out?"

Vollenhofer turned around, leaving his rifle aimed at the Germans.

"We will be able to leave as quickly as possible, when I have prepared those Germans for a Van Luxemburgian POW camp. Probably..."

He then returned to Jager, now loosening his grip around the rifle's trigger.

Bauffmann lead his troops through the trees beside the road leading out of town. The rain started to pour down heavily,

"Just a little bit of rain gentleman" Bauffmann grinned

Chuckles from the following squad were heard. Enemy activity was not very visible, once and a while a jeep would fly up the street. The squad exited the woods and got in the prone position beside the road in steep ditch,

"American jeep is comming!" Danke said in a low voice,

It was passed down the line till it reached Bauffmann. Bauffmann passed all sorts of ambush opertunitys today but this one he would take,

"Danke, Hans move a little farther down to the right and set up the MG..quickly.."

Bauffmann looked at his squad,

"Schmit,Krause move to the left and when the MG opens up move onto the road and open fire, swap your rifles with MP40's.."

The jeeps engine reved loudly as it flew down the dirt road going rather quickly,

"We are ready Lt" said Danke

Bauffmann raised his hand then dropped it quickly, the MG42 started spitting lead into the American jeep, Schmit and Krause moved up on the road and also opened fire in bursts. The jeep swurved back and fourth, went off the road,jumped the ditch and slammed into the trees,

"Ahh! ahha yeah!" shouted Krause

Bauffmann smiled at his men then got up and ran across the road, An american soldier was getting out of the jeep bracing himself on the windsheild..in his other hand he held a 45. Bauffmann aimed his Lugar and fired 2 shots into the soldiers chest, the soldier still stood aiming the Colt at him, Bauffmann fired 2 more shots into the man dropping him to the ground.

The squad gathered up around Bauffmann, the other American sitting in the jeep did not move, they asumed he was dead and returned to going through the woods to avoid too much enemy contact.

knowing he's now safe from the Russians Major Jager puts on his officers cap and places his MP 40 and Luger on the ground stepping away from them. he also ejects the bullet from the pistol he was given.

his men do likewise and gather round their commander, the cold and hungry soliders looking relived.

Major Jager even looks like an an officer now his Iron cross (the one he won in the great war) hanging from his leather jacket can be seen.

He turns to Vollenhoffer and says in german "my friend life is strange. We'd better get moving before the Ivans get trigger happy"

he smiles and takes a sip of the Van Luxemburg red wine.

"lets hope this madness is over soon" he adds

Bauffmann halted his troops in a concealed part of the woods and decided to take a break. The men sat around and light up their cigerettes starting to chatter with low voices, when the break was over the Lt signaled them to move out.

The squad moved through the muddy marsh beside a hill overlooking a valley, on it's top was a house,

"Klein, Danke and Hans take the left flank...Franz follow me up the middle, Max take him and him to the right..we must clear this then we can dig in"

The troops jogged into action towards the house. They reached the walls and looked in a window..no opposition was inside,

"Set us up.." Bauffmann said strolling through the door

When he got inside it was a 2 room house, he sat in the kitchen kicking his feet up on the table.

bump..

While driving along Erich noticed something. He told Freidrich to stop. Getting Jurgen he got out of the halftrack. Moving inside the building he raised his MP40. Once inside he found out it was a sixteen year old girl from the League of German Girls.

"Hey Jurgen I found someone from your school."

Jurgen hopped off the halftrack and went in the school slinging his STG44 over his shoulder,

"Gretta!"

A lone girl sat on the floor wearing a Luftwaffe Hitler Youth air defence uniform,

"Jurgen!" she replyed standing up, she held a Walther PPk in her left hand

She looked at the Sergent then back at her friend,

"Everyones gone..members of civil defence took some of our parents! they were hung...and..called traitors.."

She would have been a very beautiful girl in a differnt situation, the perfect picture of the master race, blonde hair,blue eyes a nice slim body. Her face was covered with dirt.

Jurgen walked over to her and on her left shoulder she had an open cut,

"Gretta! your hurt.." Jurgen looked closley at the wound

She replyed,

"It was during an artillary strike..i was caused by a window shattering"

Jurgen looked worried,

"we will fix you up...."

He smiled at her..

Heinrich knew something was up. He brought a another strecther in the halftrack. Dietrich carried the other end. Erich helped bring Gretta on the strecther. She was beautiful. Dietrich and Heinrich loaded her up next to Ralph. Erich got back in the halftrack and talked to her while Heinrich patched up her wound.

"Gretta we are leaving Germany. I have plan for all of us to escape to the South. Do you want to come with us or drop you off somewhere?"

She frowned and looked at him with her beautiful gaze,

"Where do i go? i have no where...everyones ...GONE!"

Her eyes started to sparkle with comming tears, but she continued to be strong,

"My mother told me we all have to be strong at this time...it's the duty of German women..."

Jurgen cheaked his magizine then replaced it, he cocked the weapon then put the safty on.

__________________________

Bauffmann and his men dug in at the small house in the country side. The weather was horrible and it was bad enough they were at war..they did not need to be wet,

"Lt...where will we go?" asked franz

Bauffmann set his canteen on a table and took a puff of his cigerette,

"I don't know Franz...our efforts will pay off in the long run.."

Franz looked at Bauffmanns medals,

"Wewvelsburg..Himmlers SS training castle...Iron cross 2nd class..Nazi party pin..silver assult badge..SD diamond on his sleeve..under it was the writting 'Das Reich'" he thought to himself...this is a real Nazi...

The other men in the room sat quietly smoking and eating rashions...

OOC:Remember people..sign up here if you have intrest in this thread... it seems to be comming along well, the different squads are starting to meet up and co-operate...

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=469393

OOC: Kilani and I kind of got left behind...if you don't mind, we'll just pop upsomewhere else. Is that okay?

OOC: No problem, i would prefer you pop up :) it would be great

Bauffmann put his cigerette out on the table then spoke to his men,

"Men ...we have faught a long hard war, I would have suggested surrender a long time ago if we were not men of the SS! we are the strongest members of the aryan race...we will show them we do not give up! the odds are against us but we can do our best in these final days of the third reich..we are going west before we are cut off by the russians.."

The men in the room looked him nodding their heads slowly hearing him out,

"Are you with me?"

The men knew that in number they were stronger, they agreed to follow Bauffmann.

Erich looked at Gretta and he handed her a hankercheif.

"You can come with us. Dietrich and his brother Fredtrich have a farm in Baravia that we all can run together. Since it seems like most of our parents are dead."

Heinrich was finishing tending the wound.

"Are you ok?"

The half-track rumbled as it moved down the road, moving west. Away from the Russians. Oberstfeldwebel Pieter Weber peered over the top of the cab, banging on it with the butt of his MP-40.

"Hey, Leutnant! There's a farm up ahead!"

There was grumbling from the cab and the muffled reply came.

"I can see it fine, Weber. I'm not old and decrepit like you."

The 44 year old (going on 45, now that he thought of it) Oberstfeldwebel laughed.

"You're lucky I'm around to keep your young slef alive, Fischer." The other men in the half-track, 15 in total, a rather cramped fit for a vehicle designed to hold 12, laughed at the exchange. One, Heinrich, spoke up.

"You think there'll be food at the farm?"

Weber snorted. "Probably not. But at least it'll keep the wet off of us for a while."

The half-track rumbled to a stop and the men quickly began piling out.

She nodded her head and took the hankerchief, slowly she dobbed it on her eyes,

"It is a new start...thank you..thank you very much.."

She gave him a short lived smile,

"I will be ok..everyone is hurt..people walk around like they are dead already..it scares me"

Jurgen looked at her and said calmly,

"Eveything will be ok..these men rescued me from a crazy SS Leiutennet who put me in charge of the hotels defence..one of those REAL party nazi's..."

Gretta cocked her Walther and looked at the men staring at her,

"When i was at my 88 post i tryed to fight against the russians but they got too close and a tank fired at our position..i got scared and ran...i was the only one who survived out of all 6 of us.."

Amon who sat near the front of the halftrack was stunned,

"Christopher?" he asked over the noise of the halftrack engine

She shook her head,

"I don't know..it all happened so fast..they shot at me.."

Christopher was a good friend of the Hitler Youth that joined Henrich and his men, he was now MIA..like alot of others these days,

"Dosn't the Fuhuer have a plan? i have faith in him...he will save us.."

She smiled and looked around at the dirty tired soldiers,

"The fuhuer will save us! rescuse all of us!"

She lay down on the stretcher smiling showing her perfect teeth...

_______________________
The Farmhouse:

A loud rumble of engines were heard moving down the road, Bauffmann and the troops hopped up running to the windows,

"Halftracks comming this way..they are ours!!"

Lt Bauffmann grinned and went to the door and opened it, he then stood on the hill watching the vehicles approach,

"They see the farm! signal them up..." ordered Bauffmann

The Lt straitened himself out trying to look presentable, he had a feeling there was not too many officers about these days.

Grigori called his squad to help guard the Germans, he gave them one strict order, "You are to do a check to make sure they don't have any weapons. But you are not to molest them or harm them in anyway." He called Sasha over to him to serve as a translator. He said in russian to the van luxemborgan, "I am Comrade Master Sargeant Mstislav Grigori. You can call Grigori, this is Sargeant first class Sasha out of the 23rd sniper division she will serve as my translator." Sasha translated all of this into only slightly accented German.

OOC: Everyone runs from the russians :), i don't balame them at all...

OOC: Co-written by Kilani and Rodenka. And we only have one half-track.

IC: Weber eyed the SS officer as the two squads of Heer infantry dismounted. He snapped off a quick salute in the old army style, hand to forehead, disregarding the stiff armed Nazi salute that had been imposed on the army since the summer of 1944.

As he did this, Leutnant Stefan Fischer stepped out of the cab of the halftrack and walked towards the SS man, offering a salute.

"Guten tag Herr Leutnant! I am Leutnant Stefan Fischer. This is what's left of my Kompanie." He indicated the 16 men who stood or crouched around the hafl-track, smoking and chatting idly.

Reallydrunk']OOC: Everyone runs from the russians :), i don't balame them at all...

OOC: I don't blame the germans for running either. But just to tell you guys, Grigori is one of those strange honorable types who won't kill anyone unless that person has a weapon in hand. Though his men arn't so honorable as long as Grigori is in charge they won't do anything too out of line. (Yakov may take a fancy watch, if a german has one, but with Grigori watching over his shoulder, Yakov won't shoot the German)

Bauffmann noted their salutes and threw out his arm fully extended,

"Heil Hitler! Welcome Lt Fischer..i am Leiutennet Karl Bauffmann and what you see is all i have..besides a man on the MG in the house..please..join us.."

Bauffmann nodded to Weber,

"My squad..take time to relax.."

Bauffmann went in the house, Franz was putting chairs around the table for the new commers that had to speak to Bauffmann,

"What is your plan of action Lt Fischer?.."

Bauffmann took out a gold cigerette tin and drew a smoke from it putting it in his mouth he looked at the new commers...

OOC: Ok, sounds good..i wouldn't balame them for taking what they could..Bauffmann is not a murderer but he is very stressed..

Heinrich saw down by Ralph to check on him. While doing this Wagner looked around and handed Dietrich some ammo. Things were starting to settle down. Erich handed Gretta his water.

"Hilter is coming for any of us. He has abandon us and the war is almost over. Your safe now Gretta."

Standing up Erich knew they were going South now, but they were still in this city. Soon they would get out and go south. Then he turned toward the other men.

"So does anyone object to going to Bavaria to escape the war and start a new life? If you don't want to go we will drop you off here."

Gretta's tears finally started streaming out,she refused the water

"He will save us..he will...just as he did before.." she started balling her eyes out

She lay there sobbing and sniffeling, Ralph opened his eyes,

"I am in worse shape than you but i do not cry...Gretta be strong..Hitler will surrender us to the allies..if i could still fight i would not anyways..we have lost! it is over...but it remains unofficial..so many civilians die every day..it don't need to happen!"

Gretta shot him a dirty look then looked at Henrich,

"Why do you have no faith in him..i heard some officers talking before they left the town..Hitler ordered all soldiers to fight where they stand for a reason..."

Erich looked at Ralph and Gretta then picked up his water. He then got up to Gretta then said to her.

"That will all be behind us. We can start a new life. We are never fighting again. Gretta if you want to fight then go ahead or you could go with us and never see death again."

She sat up painfully,

"Where is your courage?..why does no one have hope!...The Fuhuer still has hope i know he does!!..."

She paused and sobbed afew times,

"You are a national socialist..i am..we all are...i don't want to die! nor do i want to fight any more..im not of much use to anyone..i just wanted to remind all of you..who we are.."

Jurgen was suprized at her little speech,

"Gretta..we have done all we can do, it is near the end...we could still get cut off by the allies at any time..please...listen to reason!!

Ralph looked at Dietrich and said in a low voice,

"She really beleives..."

Erich set her down again. While doing this Dietrich looked at Ralph.

"Yes, I never did. From the begining I thought it was all fake."

Erich looked at Gretta and smiled.

"You are beautiful Gretta and I will not let anything happen to you."

She layed back down, her nerves shook but she managed a smile for him. Her icey blue eyes gazed into his,

"I..i trust you..thank you.." she studderd

Ralph replyed to Dietrich,

"Neither did i..my father suggested i join the Hitler Youth troop...he was in a paratrooper regiment....he died in Caen in 44..."

Ralph spaced out, Jurgen patted his shoulder,

"We will get out alive...all of us my friend.."

it's been two days after the ambush pete and we been in two firefights and those two so far are not dead said blade.
they been lucky so far just like us they may live to see the war end said pete
ya may be if they keep listening to us veterans replyed blade.
can you tell me the count on the german weapons ammo? ask pete to blade.
yap we have six magazines for the one mp40 ,20 rounds of 7.92mm for each of the 3 mauser and ten potato-masher (german grenades for those who don't know) and for our own 55 .30-06 round each , we still have 4 mags of 45 each as we not use the colts and we have 4 gf3 grenades left.

Vollenhofer turned to Jager first, answering his question.

"Agreed. I suggest we get moving at once. Everyone, help the Russians on checking for weapons!"

Then, Jock turned to Grigori and his Sergeant, Sasha.

"So, I'm Jock Vollenhofer, 3rd Allied Armoured Division, Taskforce Beta, of the Grand Ducal Van Luxemburgian Army. Now, I would like to know how you got so far off of your lines?"

He answered in a German, which could almost be seen as native German.

Major Jager follows this conversation while he and his men are searched, no extra weapons turning up.

Still he didn't trust these Russians as far as he could spit having fought against them in early '42 for a while and witnessed what they did to Germans. the Wehrmachts hands weren't clean either but that was the situation on the eastern front.

the Russian looking for loot was going to be disapointed with the lack of valuables. anything of value had long been converted into food to keep going when the supply cart stopped reaching them.

Heinrich checked on Ralph and told him.

"You need to get some sleep."

As he was saying this the sun was starting to come up. Now the halftrack was on the outskirts of the city. Erich looked at Gretta. He wondered when the last time she had water. Pulling out his canteen he opened her mouth and poured water in it.

"You need the water."

Taylor, Daniel, Andrew, and Anna stood outside of the compound awaiting the results of the meeting. Here they were:

The Van Luxemburgers, the Russians, The Americans, and the Germans. All here. Thankfully the Russians and Van Luxemburgers had come to their rescue, they weren't sure they would have made it without them.

Taylor walked up Jock, "Listen, we really need to move." He said in German. Then in English, "Can you speak English?"

Andrew Hale and Daniel Watts still held their weapons at the ready, they were taking no chances of these Germans getting away, not after they had killed Niel. They wanted to see them get what they deserved.

War is a cruel thing... Taylor thought looking at the men.

The proof was all around him. War is a living hell...

Grant implored once more, "Come on Jock let's get going."

Jock turned to Taylor, and began to speak in English, with a slight German/British accent.

"Will you wait a minute? I suppose I need to take these Germans, aswell as I need to get an answer of those Russians. Then, I suppose we'll be moving towards Stuttgart. It's way down, but it's the only Van Luxemburgian HQ in the area. I can drop you off somewhere down the road, if you want."

He then returned to the Russians, aswell as the Germans, who stood a bit lost in the middle of the Allied group.

Oust had spent a cold night by himself yet again, this time curled up beneath the overgrown roots of a massive pine tree. As dawn began to crest over the horizon, his eyes cracked open and he uncoiled his lean body from its position and checked first on his beloved rifle.

After that, a meal of some cold sausage and a swig from his canteen brought him around and ready for the day.

Then Oust, the lone German soldier was up and moving, searching for where the new 'front' was now.

Gretta drank the water slowly,

"Thank you..i havn't thought about much food or water lately"

Ralph was drifting off slowly, Jurgen sat beside him and Amon splitting a cigerette with his commrades. Jurgen sat looking at the bandaged hand sitting on the stretcher..it just looked like a bloody ball,

"He lost it for nothing Amon..."

Amon didn't say much at any time, he just nodded...

The halftrack made it's way outside of the city and was going toward the south. Erich sat by Gretta waiting.

Weber yawned, then pointed at two men.

"You two, you're sentries for now. I'll send a relief out in a while."

With that, he ducked into the house, ushering for the rest of the squad to follow. Soon, the house was filled with German infantrymen, who were glad to be out of the cold and wet.

Fischer looked at the SS officer as he pulled out a ciggerate. He pulled out his own and lit it. He took a long drag before replying.

"Well, my first idea was to go west, away from the Communists. Maybe we can hook up with a larger unit. I really don't have a plan right now, except get away from the Russians."

Actually, he thought, I'm going to surrender to the Americans the first chance I get. But I'm not going to tell you that, am I?

The Brydog troops decided to advance into the town again. The lone Comet was now incharge of 4 SPGs that at Handstand's orders, shelled the hotel. Then the 11 men with support advanced into the town.

Bauffmann grinned,

"Good! another sensible officer..you Whermacht officers are very sensible men!..we will continue the fight in the west..increasing our numbers as we go..then! we..capture some fuel depots..then..tanks..tigers..panzers...there is still a chance.."

He paused,

"Other officers will hear of what we are doing and regain their courage...cowardly bastards these days..."

All of a sudden Bauffmann realized he was talking crazy, he then lowerd himself down to sit in a chair,

"We could really use you Lt Fischer..your country..could use you.."

__________________

As the halftrack drove along Gretta found sleep. After what seemed like a short time she opened her eyes to see the same dark sky pouring rain. She pulled the great coat over her more,

"Sergent, where are we?"

Distant sounds of heavy artillary fire echoed through the air,

"Are they close?" she asked

Jurgen glanced at her then his attention went back to the road sides watching for movement. Amon pointed over to a king tiger tank with the whole turret blown right off,

"Mein Gott! they got it pretty bad.."

As they went around a corner an entire line of halftracks and opel transport trucks were scattered about blown to hell. Jurgen looked at some of Erichs squad members,

"How much longer can we fight with no fuel..food or vehicles..."

Weber laughed harshly. "That's the ticket, sir! We'll counter attack and drie them all the way back to the Channel! It'll be '40 all over again!"

He shook his head. "The Reich is kaput. Hitler is kaput. The best thign we can do is let the Americans get to Berlin first."

Weber looked over at the SS man, as if daring him to say something about his comments.

Bauffmann sat there in silence, he stared at Weber hard then stood up,

"I know it won't work! but can we dream! CAN WE!" Bauffmann yelled

He looked Weber right in the eyes and said,

"You are a coward..no better than Russian!..."

Bauffmann's eyes darted to all the mens stares,

"Can you let me calm people down with happy thoughts! good ol' 40 we will say! we were the masters of the world...45' comes along, we are no longer heros..but running cowards that can't wait to surrender and make those who died in these uniforms look like they gave their selfs for nothing!!"

Bauffmann lowered himself back down in the chair and touched his medals with his left hand..in his right he held his lugar resting on the table...

Weber glared, trying to restrain himself.

"Coward? I'm no coward! I fought for the Kaiser in the Great War! And he thought I was brave enough to earn the Iron Cross!" he touched the decorations that he wore on his own chest, looking at Baufmann. "And Hitler thought I was brave enough to give me another, for the Eastern Front. I'm no coward! I'm a soldier. At least I don't kill women and children like the SS. The Heer can say that it at least has honor."

His submachine gun pointed in Baufmann's direction. "Go ahead and call me a coward if you like. But I know that I'm a soldier." The Heer sodiers in the room were all watching the confrontation, some had hands on weapons.

Fischer stood, waving at both of them. "Both of you, calm down! Weber, stow the weapon."

He turned to Baufmann, taking a drag on his ciggerate.

"I'm sorry, Weber is old and a bit cranky."

He grinned apolegtically.

What a weather! Obersturmführer (captain) Pjort Melehov winded his greatcoat tighter around him as he stood behind the machinegun, trying to see through the rain what waited them ahead. Scharführer(sergeant) Jevgeni Arimov, who was driving the captured M3-HT sang quietly, almost whispering an old, melancholy song from the banks of river Don. It told about a man who had lost his honour, his home and his brothers, and was forced to travel behind the horizon trying to find a new place in this world.
This song had been in the minds of these 11 men, Cossacks fighting for the Germans against Soviets, Yugoslavian partisans, then against the Brits and Amis, and now against even the Germans themselves. It told about these men. Melehov, who had fought against the Japanese in the Soviet ranks 1939 and against the Finns in the winter war could not help himself thinking that this was actually the only way of living he knew.
The distant dream of peace, free of communist oppression in a free country of Cossacks that had made him to turn against the Soviets and join the German forces with the rest of his squadron (company) in '41 hadn't ever been more than that, a distant dream, and deep in his mind he had known that war was his destiny. Not that he liked it. He just knew this was what he was made to do, to lead others in attempt to kill someone he was told to kill. His men, these 10 scarred, seasoned veterans of Red Army, Wehrmacht and SS (to which the 1st and 2nd Cossack Cav.Divs were transferred '44) were pretty much like him.

Now the situation had however changed a bit. They had no one to tell them who to kill. After the surrender and massacre of their 15th SS Cavalry Corps and the thousands of civilians by the Brits and the destruction of their regiment that wasn't with the main body in the hands of Checkoslovakian partisans and horrendous Allied air attack they had just wondered around ni their halftrack, taking from the civlians what they needed. They had confronted and escaped Feldgendarmerie and SS security troops, when those had tried to stop them. This hadn't happened too often though. It seemed like this group of wondering Waffen SS in weird headwears and American haltrack wasn't worth fighting for.

Men sleeping and chatting in the back of the M3 (they had placed a tent fabric over the cargo space to cover them from the rain) started to stretch themselves and prepare their weapons when their Hetmann (Cossack leader) and Obersturmführer turned to them and said; "There's an old farmhouse and a German halftracks in front of it. We'll get to there to ask if they had any idea where the hell might we be." Jevgeni turned their vehicle off the road and slowed down. Men jumped out of it, and as Jevgeni hid it in a pretty good place, between an almost-collapsed cottage and a big rock in a small woods, they helped to further camouflage it. It didn't take long, as this was what they did every time they had to leave their precious transport.

Melehov inspected and approved their work. It could not be seen but from a very close distance. Now sure about it's safety he turned and led his men towards the farmhouse that was approx. one-and-a-half kilometres from there. They moved without even trying to hide themselves, straight towards the house.

As the men Wehrmacht private guarding the vehicles (OOC: I assume you guys have someone standing in guard, right?) noticed them and automatically raised his weapon, Obersturmführer waved his hand and shouted "Don't worry, kamarade! We're on your side."

Over his shoulder he added quietly, but aloud enough for his men to hear it "...at the moment."

Bauffmann hopped up knocking the chair over pointing his lugar at Weber, when he mentioned the murder of women and children Bauffmann's face went blank and he closed his eyes. The pictures he was seeing were not plesent, his memmorys of the camps and Warsaw Ghetto liquidadition flew through his mind....

He looked at Weber wide eyed when they opened,

"I..did...what my country asked of me!" he shook with anger..

The men in his squad knew that if the shooting started, no matter what their loyalty remained in the SS for as long as they wore the uniform,

"You talk about honor? all of us have been stripped of that..the worse part is i will probably find myself hanging from a rope!"

Bauffmann smiled,

"The SS is honor...the Whermacht could not be tasked with such a thing because they have feelings over duty.."

Even the SS troops who did not share that point of veiw still painfully defended the Leiutennet...

Franz yelled,he was positioned at the window with his MG42

"Some more SS men, comming thisw way!"

OOC: No time for a big reply, but yes, there is a private outside (Grenadier/Schutze). And the regular army is known as the Heer. Werhmacht refers to the armed forces as a whole.

IC:

The private, Heinrich Bonn relexed, slingign his rifle. he waved, ushering the men to come forward.

"Wilkommen! Good to see another friendly face these days. I'll get the Feld."

He turned and jogged towards the house, leaving the other sentry to smile at the ragged group of men and offer a pair of ciggerates. Heinrich opened the door and called inside.

"Oberstfelwebel! There are some men out here in German uniforms."

With a grunt, the old NCO left the two officers inside and stepped back out into the cold.

"I'm Oberstfeldwebel Pieter Weber. Who are all of you?"

Bauffmann walked to the door and stood in the entrance,

"Welcome! how wonderful of you to join us!" He shouted

Franz and Hans stood inside talking to eachother,

"We are being turned against each other...this war is bringing the worst out in everyone..."

Bauffmann was sweating, in the back of his mind there was still a holocost..he spent too much tiem around it in the early days...

OOC: You are technically right. Usually the word was however used to separate Luftwaffe Feld troops and Heer units from Waffen SS, so I don't think it's really wrong to say so. A minor issue anyways.

IC:

"I am Obersturmführer Melehov, and this is what's left from the 3rd Squadron of 2nd Cossack Cavalry Regiment of SS. Do you happen to have a good map of this area? We're somewhat lost, it seems. Also, Oberstfelwebel, I would like to know your unit and the mission of it, because as soon as we get over these formalities we can get inside. This rain is really starting to piss me of.." he said, smiling.

In the background Bauffmann and his men gave the Nazi salute clicking their heels,

"Seig Heil, Obersturmführer Melehov good to see you in the area..you.. see more troops retreating than stopping to chat these days.."

Bauffmann looked at Weber strait faced,

"I will be a gentleman and apoligize to you, you are a veteran NCO..i had no right to make any acusations about you being a coward.."

The SS LT gave him a regular army salute and went back in the house.

Sergeant Petrov surveyed his men, seeing the familiar gleam in the eyes of his trusted veterans, and the fresh-faced fear of the rookie in the conscripts. To his left, Commisar Antonov was lauding the praises of Comrade Stalin and the Communist Party, in a voice that must surely have been audiable even in the Lair of the Beast itself. Any other man would have attracted sniper's bullets like a magnet, but not this man. He led a charmed life, this one, and that meant that Petrov and his platoon's lives were made that much harder.

When they had come across the Commisar, he was marching forward, alone, towards the German lines, a pistol in one hand a a submachine gun in the other. His eyes had been glazed, and Ivan knew immidiately what was happening.

"Comrades! Why do you fall back?" he had cried, the corpses of an entire Guards Army around his feet answering his question. "We must press on! Not one step back!". Then, with careful and deliberate aim, he shot Lieutenant Ivanov hrough the head, and demanded that the platoon about face and march.

That had been three days ago. Twelve of their original twenty seven were dead, along with twenty three Nazi Scum. Androv wanted the total to reach fifty by the time relief arrived, or Petrov would be shot.

The bastard slept with both eyes open, Petrov was sure. That was when he slept at all. No matter, it was a simple case of surviving the Germans longer than he did. And maybe helping them out if the opportunity arose. Then it was back to the annonimity of the ranks, and the vodka rations it provided.

-------------------------------------

Corporal Gagarin set up his DP-48, its 48 round circular clip slotting neatly into place. Below him, the rest of the platoon crawled forwards on their bellies, towards the camp fire in the distance. Around it sat three Germans, with a fourth taking a piss nearby. Suddenly, a ghostly shape emerged from the ground beside him, and there was the wet slap of a spade being brought into contact with a hunam neck. The blow was hard enough to sever the man's spinal column, and the German was dead before his corpse, leaking cerebral fluid, hit the floor. Immediately, the rest of the platoon sprang into action, reaching the Germans before they could draw their guns, clubbing and beating them with whatever they had to hand. Ammunition was too precious these days.

They no longer fought for objectives, or for tactical gain. For them, right now, this war was merely a case of killing Germans and, for the recently widowed Gagarin, this was just the way it was meant to be.

After driving a hour time they came upon a house. It was starting to rain really hard now. Fredrich stopped the halftrack.

"Ok were staying here for the night. If there is a bed it goes to Ralph. Heinrich Amon you get Ralph. Jurgen help me get Gretta inside. The rest of you get the supplies and go inside."

Wagner, Fredrich, and Dietrich went inside and started a fire to get away from the cold. They started also to cook soup. While this Erich and Jurgen got Gretta inside and on a couch. Heinrich and Amon brought Ralph upstairs to a bed.

Melehov nodded to the Oberstfelwebel and followed Bauffmann to the small building, and his men came right behind him. Seeing he was the highest ranking officer (OOC: If I got this correctly) the took the liberty of taking a seat near the fire, occupying the best chair in the room. He lit a fat American cigarette and snapped his fingers. "Waiter!". One of his men walked quickly to him and bowed, acting like he actually was a waiter in a fine restaurant. "Yes, your highnes? How may I serve?" Melehov grinned, seeing how well Igor played his role. "A bottle of your finest vodka for me and lieutenant, please." Igor, which was the name of the Unterscharführer-waiter, nodded. He pulled a bottle from his tornister, like it was the greatest bottle in the world, and presented it to the laughing audience. "Gentlemen, may I present you the very best our restaurant, Cossack Circus, has to offer; straight from the bottomless storages of Red Army, Stalin's personal favourite!" He took two fine porcelain cups from the same tornister and filled them to the top.

Melehov took his own, nodded to Igor with an expressionless face, then turning to Bauffmann, raised his drink and said: "Hals und Beinbruch!".

EDIT: Typos, typos, typos...

Bauffmann laughed hard then shot his drink back,

"Danke Obersturmführer"

Bauffmann light a cigerette and asked the Captian,

"What is the plan of action sir? you are the highest rank here now..i have tryed my hardest to do what is right"

Melehov leaned back and inhaled the smoke, blowing it out with great skill - he was pleased to see how perfect circles he had managed to make - before answering. "To be honest, Lieutenant, I don't have the faintest clue. I don't give a shit about this Hitler and the orders he is giving from his bunker that is soon to be overrun by the Bolsheviks, neither do I want to die for a seemingly lost cause." Turning his eyes from the smoke circles to the man in front of him, he continued; "...but we can't surrender. To the Soviets, me and my men are traitors, and they hate us Cossacks. Not that it matters now when we're in SS though - as you know, they kill all SS without any questions. The problem that we have but you don't is that both Brits and Amis turn us to Stalin when we surrender. This is the faith that waits all of us Ost-truppen."

He swallowed what was left of his vodka and urged Igor to fill it again. "To me and my men, death waits us no matter what we do, so it's pretty much meaningless to do any plans. There seems to be no way out."

Bauffmann looked like he did not know what to say,

"So..sir....you fight to the death?..or run?"

Bauffmann paused and looked at all his men,

"What are my standing orders captian?"

Bauffmanns squad looked all around the room to see the reaction of the other nazi's.



Gretta sat on the couch quietly she stared at the wall. When she snapped back into it she took off the helmet she had on and ran her fingers though her hair,

"I can't wait to wear colourful dresses again...all the boys in the town were attacted to me...now im such a mess.."

Jurgen looked at Amon who smiled, both of them chuckled looking at Erich...

Wagner, Fredrich, and Dietrich were done cooking the soup. Heinrich brought some up for Ralph and himself. Erich got his own and some for Gretta. He let Jurgen and Amon take the rest. Walking over to Gretta Erich put his helmet down. He handed her the soup.

"Here you need to eat."

Then he started to eat with the rest of his men.

Taylor implored Jock... "We really need to get moving."

____________________________________

OOC:

Seriously, we do, we haven't moved for the past 2 or 3 days.

A far off bomb sirin sounded far off in the distance, the eire noise filled the night air...,

"They bomb us day and night...all of germany will be reduced to rubble"

Jurgen said to Erich, Gretta sat eating her soup slowly to make it last longer. Amon took out a tattered picture and sat in a dark corner holding it tightly,he ate but very slowly like he had no appitite,

"Amon ...who is in your picture?..i couldn't get any because my house was leveled...here is a joke! Germany is a country of wharehouses....wheres my house! ahahaha"

Afew of the soldiers chuckled while others sat there no finding the humor in the joke....

(OOC: I know, but as long as Mare Serenus does nothing, I can't do anything either..)

OOC: Sorry, I hadn't read the past posts to well.

Grigori continued speaking in Russian while Sasha translated into German, "My commanders ordered me to to get a squad togeather and to head into enemy territory to kill Nazi's destroy and/or capture supply depots, and to decieve the Nazi's on Russian troop movements." Grigori paused before continuing, "My Sargeant wants to know why you have Panzer tanks and speak in a rather perfect German accent yet hold Nazi's captive?"

Three Russians had stayed behind to guard the prisoners. The rest of the squad had returned in time to hear the last part of the question. They caustioulsy readied their weapons until Grigori turned his head and shook it. The Russians stopped and then proceeded to start lighting cigarrettes. Grigori turned back waiting for an answer.

Jager and his men eyed the Russians suspiciously while they were being guarded. since all they could was wait Jager passed round the bottle of Van Luxemburg wine to his cold and thirsty men.

He knew there was nothing that he could do if the Ivans suddenly decided to shoot them so he bided his time and said nothing to them.

Weber sat in one corner, quietly smoking a ciggerate as he considered what he and Fischer were to do next. Join with Baufmann and the Cossacks? Strike out on their own?

Conscripted private Alexander Sakalov gazed longingly at the letter in his hand. It had come from his girl back home, she had learned how to write just for him. She had given birth to their first child, a boy, just two weeks ago. He was happy and healthy. The war would be over soon, she said, then they could both be happy with their new lives, and maybe move off the collective farm and into a town or city.

The paper suddenly turned a deep, crimson red, the words becoming indistinguishable on the page. Alex looked down, a sharp pain starting to make itself felt in his back and front. He bacame aware of a warm sensation, flowing down his body, and his brown uniform was becoming steadily darker. He became suddenly very tired, his body becoming limp. He collapsed sideways, staring at the paper clouds, wondering if one of them could be used as a canvas to write his reply to Masha. As his eyelids drooped, Alex, still blissfully unaware, began to wonder what to call his son. He never managed to decide on a name.

-------------------------------

Sergeant Petrov heard the distinctive crack of a high powered rifle, and he hit the floor immediately. He was followed down straight away by all of the experienced troops, and (to his great pleasure) a number of the conscripts. At least they were learning something. Their comrades looked around for a moment, before realising their situation and dropping too.

One, however, remained sat down on a tree stump, the carcass of the tree itself obscuring slightly Petrov's view of the young conscript. When the soldier slumped, however, Petrov knew instantly what had happened. No noise was made, no motion, as fourteen pairs of eyes scanned for flashes of metal in the surrounding countryside. After five minutes, nothing. A conscript, his nerve finally breaking, began to raise himself into a half crouch, to gain a better view. The bullet entered through his left temple, blood and brain matter clogging the hair on what was left of the right side of his face.

Another five minutes, and then the sound of submachinegun fire echoed through the surroundings. Petrov glanced up to see Commisar Antonov, stood up fully, holding up a sniper rifle for the platoon to see.

"Whilst you cowards hid, I slew the Fascist Beast! Why do you cower? He can only kill one of you at a time! Your cowardice has not gone-"

He was silenced by a rifle round hitting him in the throat. One of the conscripts, sensing (probably correctly) that executions were at hand, had shot the commisar.

This, however, led to a sticky situation. They could not go back to their lines, as without the commisar they would merely be shot on sight for retreating. Pressing on into German territory alone would prove unwise to say the least, so they needed a plan.

Eventually, they decided upon occupying a farmhouse, and waiting for the Red Army to come to them. Then, they could claim they were a recconaisance patrol got lost, and be adopted into a new formation. There appeared to be a building a few miles north-west that suited their purposes, so off they set.

Maybe, if they were lucky, some might survive to tell their grandchildren about this.

Wagner the youngest of all the group went up to Amon. Getting close enougth to him to talk to him personally, but far enougth to not see the picture.

"Hey Amon what's the picture of?"

Upstairs Heinrich woke up Ralph and handed him his soup. He shook him.

"Ralph I have some soup for you."

Erich sat by Gretta and finished his soup. He looked at Gretta. His heart felt like it was starting to melt. He knew he had feelings for her, but he could tell her that.

"Gretta is there anything you want me to do?"

Lutherstadt

The troops entered the town. The town was quiet, they neared the hotel. They entered the hotel under a friendly artillery strike.

Vollenhofer answered in German again.

"Well, Van Luxemburg has a rather large German-speaking minority. French, English and Lëtzebuergesch are also spoken, with some exceptions like Ducth, Spanish, Italian... Whatever you want. Also, we captured those Königstigers from Major Jager here. They stood empty, without fuel along a road, so we put some fuel in them, and let them follow our Centurions with a somewhat different crew"

Jock smiled, while some other Van Luxemburgians shortly laughed.

Grigori smiled and spoke, Sasha translated, "I have heard of Van Luxemburg, if half of what I have heard is true then it is a marvelous place. Now, I was wondering if you were willing to give your allies a ride? We could all work togeather to guard the Nazis to the POW camp."

"That could be OK. We will be travelling to Stuttgart, and Van Luxemburgian High Command will have to see what we do with them. There's a chance they'll be staying there, or they'll be flown back to Van Luxemburg."

Jock then jumped inside his tank.
"All passengers inbound for Stuttgart on the tanks, please!"

Major Jager took that as his queue to get his men aboard but first he had one duty to perform.

borrowing a few shovels from the tanks they buried their fallen comrades in a shallow grave.

Not being a particularly religious man Major Jager keeps the service simple and leads his men in the Lords Prayer before they climb aboard Jocks tank and hang on.

Taylor clutched his Thompson as he, Daniel, Andrew, and Anna jumped in one of the tanks. It was time to move out.

But one of them wasn't going home. Niel, thank you for your service. You will recieve the proper rights of a KIA soldier. The Lord have mercy on your soul.

Grigori shouted to his squad, "Come on!" Grigori climbed aboard the tank that hel the Nazi officar. After Grigori sat down he lit up a cigarratte. Sasha climbed aboard the tank that had the Americans on it. The rest of the squad climbed aboard tanks with Van Luxemborgs and started talking, drinking, smoking, and gambling with them.

The heavy engines rumbled, and left for Stuttgart. It was on it's way, for a long journey.

Van Luxemburgian soldiers, being equipped with food for 72 hours, parted a lot of food into pieces and shared it with the others, while several bottles of wine and other alcohol were drunk by both the Van Luxemburgians and their Allies, aswell as POW's.

The German Tankers gratefully accepted the food and wine but they were still wary off the Russians.

As Major Jager talked to the Van Luxemburg crew it became clear why the Fatherland was losing.

Even although they had knocked out many allied tanks there was always more to take their place. they always had ammo and never ran out of fuel unlike the King Tigers they had to abandon.

Maybe in a future Europe panzer design would improve but his fighting days were over for now.

Fischer, who had been quietly smoking a ciggerate in the corner with his men, walked over to Baufmann and the coassack. "The best possible thing to do right now would to let the Western Allies overrun Germany. Throw everything we have at the Russians so the Americans can take Berlin. I can tell you know that the Russians don't like us after what the SS did to their civilians. After waht we did to their cities."

He paused, exhaling a small cloud of smoke. "The next best thing ,aside from fighitng the RUssians, would be to surrender to the Americans. Or, in your case...' He nodded at the Cossack, "Head for Switzerland."

Melehov took a deep breath of his cigaret and looked at the two men. "I'm sick of leading people to their graves. Look, I will not take responsibility over your future. To me, this German Reich is down and doomed, and you can do whatever you want to save yourselves. We will wonder around here for as long as we can, and then perhaps head to the South, as you..." he said, looking at Fischer. "...suggested. You can stick with us, together we can perhaps... confiscate what we need easier than we have done this far - and I can lead you. But you are free to do what you wish, for what I'm concerned. Igor..." he continued, and his corporal filled the cup again.

Fischer nodded, "I would love to accompany you and see you safely to the Swiss border. My men would probably be glad to help. I'd hate to see men like you dragged off to the gulags or worse. After all, we're comrades. You fought side by side with the rest of us and that makes you OK by me..."

He took another drag on the ciggerate, "Luckily, we can just surrender to the Americans and spend the rest of the war in a comfy POW camp. Until then, I'll help you get as far south as possible."

Uh... Bump?

I know this is in vain, but I no one can take away my right to do this BUMPERNAGE.

Amon showed him the picture, it was of a woman, a man, a young girl and himself,

"My mother..father...sister and me..."

He sat there holding the picture shaking slightly, it looked as if he wanted to cry but no tears came....

Ralph sat up and took the spoon with his good hand,

"I am a gimp Henrich...useless..." he said in a low voice....

Gretta looked at Erich and smiled,

"I am fine Erich, you are such a gentleman...do you have a girlfriend?"

Bauffmann sat in the room quietly thinking to himself, he sipped brandy from his flask and looked at the other men in the room,

"No one has faith...no one..Hitler has made some mistakes, but we must forgive him as he would forgive us...he will lift us back up, you will see"

Bauffmann nodded and smiled at the group...

the journey to Stutgart was slow because the King Tigers were so thirsty.

Even so they were travelling in allied held territory all the way and getting petrol was not a problem.

Tired Obersturmfuehrer from the Jagutinskaya stanitsa, North West from Tsaritsyn (what the Stalingrad still was to him), saw the light in the eyes of this man in front of him, wearing the same uniform as he did, but with so very different thoughts. That light had glowed in hes eyes too, but those days were long gone. He had no illusions.

"Bullshit. Hitler has lost the little sanity he has ever had. That man is, besides crazy, just plain stupid. We have enough evidence on that. Now when he and the Bolsheviks have put their together their best effort to knock down his oncemighty armies and most of his brilliant generals have been killed, arrested, captured or just left the sinking ship, he has nothing left to save him and his country from the inevitable."

He took his PpSH on the table and started to clean it.

"You can give up your dreams already, brother. All that matters now is the life you and your men."

Everything must have come clear to the Lt all at that moment, it was like he was struck by lightening. Bauffmann went to sit down in a chair and fell right over the side of it to the floor where Danke and Franz quickly helped him back up and placed him in the chair,

"Sir, are you ok? sir!" they asked skaing his arm..

Bauffmann sat there quietly, he didn't move or even show any sign of saying a word,

"He's fucked up!" Franz exclaimed looking at the Obersturmfuhurer

The SS Lt sat in the chair staring off at the wall....

Melehov rose from his chair, clearly not understanding what was going on. "Is he sick or something? It can't be the vodka, I took it myself too and am not even drunk! Perhaps he has an epillepsia?"

Franz unbuttoned his Lt's collar and half way down his tunic, Bauffmann sat there sweating. Hans walked into the room and stopped in front of Bauffmann,

"I have seen men act like this before..what you said Obersturmfuhurer..he sees how things really are, the third reich was still in it's golden age in his mind before you made him beleive different..."

Bauffmann looked at hans then at Melehov,

"I..i know..different...aha aha..iii know.." he stuttered...

Melehov nodded and sat down again. "Good then. I thought it was something worse than realizing how the world really is..."

Bauffmann looked at Melehov and replyed calmly getting ahold of himself,

"We have failed him..we were not worthy of the leadership he provided us..."

Hans shook his head then went into the other room quietly, Franz leaned against the wall looking at the Lt then to Melehov,

"No Lt...it was him all along..."

Obersturmführer laughed, but both the sound of his voice and the look ni his eyes remained ice cold.
"That's right! His leadership was too good for us! We failed to notice how great idea it was to let the 6th Army to starve in Stalingrad! We just couldn't understand why it was so brilliant idea to make Belarussians and Ukrainians our enemies instead of taking millions of them to fight on our side! Of course it was just our stupidity when we thought it was not a good idea to waste our few panzers in Kursk against all odds! And the list goes on..."

He spit to the floor.

"I there was one man that raelly DESERVED to die in this war, it is Hitler. His stupidity is the most important reason for the loss of German cause, and with it the cause of the Cossacks and free Russia... For the death of my people, for the death of you people, for the death of the Europe."

OOC: Sorry, bedtime!

Bauffmann had lost his fire to argure any longer, he simply just say there and pulled out a cigerette a lighter,

"Ahh, so that is the way of it....tactical mistakes balamed on the fuhuer...i will get off this matter as it will not help our situation very much.."

Franz looked at one of the men in Melehov's squad,

"He has lost his mind...i hope it don't interfear with his ability to lead, his leadership is good..he attended Wevelsburg under Himmler himself...SS officer school..i trust in his leadership but his sanity...how long will it last..?"

Bump, it's not too late for entrys in this Rp

Vladza, to whom Franz had pointed his words, nodded compassionately. However he, like the rest of the Cossacks, kept his weapons (MG42 in his case) near to him, and followed carefully the moves of this fanatical SS officer whom their Ataman was talking with.
To Franz he said just that "I hope your commander is not going to do anything silly... Melehov will defend his opinion no matter how hard your crazyman is trying to close their arguement."

Vladza knew his commander. Pointing Bauffman with his finger like it was a gun of some sort he continued his speech; "Tactical mistakes?! Is that how you call losing millions of men in battles that even a child could have won, with the troops and leaders he had under his disposal? Cумасшедший! Your refusal to accept that you have believed, and still believe in a lunatic who has failed you and millions of your brothers is something that isn't helping your situation! Not my attempts to clear it to you! Everyone can see how the things are. You have nothing to support your standing, except blind and inane trust of the words of a traitor."

Bauffmann thought to himself about kursk. The Lt had been stationed there to earn a feild commission to his rank in the SS, he had faught the battles and managed to survive, he was not one who knew nothing of the nightmares.

"I have not forgotten my time in the feild...i know the pains you speak of...i should be in collage, im young! i was made to trust in somthing impossible, you are right...everything i dreamed of..everything all of us faught for is a lost cause..."

The squad members in the room lowered their heads...

Bauffmann looked at Melehov,

"Now brother, it's us against them...victory will come for the allies but i will do everything in my power to fight for what i beleive...im a facist and i would have it no other way, at least all of us had not abandoned our brothers in arms...we will fight, die and and preserve what we think is right, why some of you ask..because our will is of iron..we are proud people of the master race..we will refuse to be crushed by the heathen beliefs of the english...we will stand and fight for our country as proud men! men who refuse to be DEFEATED!!...men who will stop at nothing!"

Bauffmann stood up and saluted the men in the room with a regular military salute,

Amon showed him the picture, it was of a woman, a man, a young girl and himself,

"My mother..father...sister and me..."

He sat there holding the picture shaking slightly, it looked as if he wanted to cry but no tears came....

Ralph sat up and took the spoon with his good hand,

"I am a gimp Henrich...useless..." he said in a low voice....

Gretta looked at Erich and smiled,

"I am fine Erich, you are such a gentleman...do you have a girlfriend?"


Wagner looked at the picture. Tears started to come down his cheeks. He looked toward Amon. Wagner put his hand on Amon's shoulder.

"It's fine to cry. All of us have lost a family memebers."

Heinrich sat with Ralph and ate his spoon. He could see the sadness in Ralph's eyes.

"You are not useless. I don't want you to die. You will one day do great things."

Erich looked at Gretta and replied. While doing this he brought up a chair beside her.

"I have never had a girlfriend."

Amon looked a Wagner with glossy eyes,

"Yes i have grown to be used to the fact i have no parents, my sister..i have not seen her sence the last bombing raid in lutherstadt...i will live out the final days of the third reich and my youth only being able to dream of having a family again.."

Ralph sat staring at the hand, he then looked at henrich,

"Do you think i will get a medal for this? i like the wound badge..silver.." He smiled

Gretta smiled,

"I don't see how that is possible, you looking like...never mind..."

Wagner looked Amon with hope.

"You have us now as your family Amon."

Heinrich knew that Ralph would live threw the war.

"Ralph you deserve the wounded badge, but you should be honored to have the iron cross."

Erich knew what Gretta meant by that. Before the war he had no time for woman. He had to work or do stuff with the Hitler Youth. Looking at Gretta he set his hand on hers. He moved ever so closer to her.

Amon nodded slowly then looked at Wagner,

"Thank you...this will all be over soon"

Ralph looked at the iron cross in his hand,

"It's wonderul..it's acctully mine..i earned it"

Gretta smiled and said to Erich,

"Maybe..if you ever needed a girlfriend..i would be there..your very brave and i need a man who can take care of me..""

Wagner patted Amon on the back then started to get some firewood with Freidrich and Dietrich. They picked up their weapons and helmets then went outside.

Heinrich looked at Ralph and took his bowl.

"You did deserve it Ralph. Also are you finished with your soup."

Erich started to turn red. Then he moved right next to her and kissed on her the cheek.

"I think your the only girl for me."

Weber watched the Coassack and the Nazi bicker. He had heard it all before, discussed in foxholes and on long marches ever since the horrible retreat from Moscow. Ever since those horrible winters had cut down the cream of theWerhmacht. As the Nazi made his last statement, Weber laughed. It was a laugh fo amusement, made harsh by the old NCO's experience in the war.

"The master race? The ubermenschen? You're mad. How can we be better then the Slavs if they're knocking on der Fuhrer's door? You can go fight and die if you wish. I want to see my wife and my son again."

He shook his head, stubbing the remians of his ciggerate out. "I only hope he hasn't been shoved into one of those Hitler Youth battalions....God, I can only hope and pray...."

OOC: Where are we Van Luxemburg?

OOC: Here. Didn't even know this was still active. What shall we do? Any plans?

OOC: Here. Didn't even know this was still active. What shall we do? Any plans?

OOC: Let's go attack some Germans... :)

Maybe our convoy should be attacked on the way...

OOC: Who wants to play those attacking Germans? Anyone?

Melehov stood up again, his face twisted in rage. Compared to that, his voice was surprisingly calm, when he slowly asked: "So you are going to sacrifice your men, those boys who have barely tasted life other than this war, and yourself because of the arrogance and beliefs of your racial superiority over the peoples that are just about to crush you? The slavs, to whom me and my men also belong, have just defeated you, can't you see it?! That cannot be overcome by stubborness anymore."

In his outrage towards this idiotism that he had verbally fought against times after times he ignored Weber's word, though recognizing that, if this would ever come to anything like that, there was a man he could expect support from.

Pointing the SS-officer with his gunlike finger, he spat out the last few words. "I'm sick of idiots, Bauffman. So sick of people like you, brainwashed so well that the brains to be washed have totally melted away."

OOC: Who wants to play those attacking Germans? Anyone?
OOC: Why don't you just accidentally ran at the house in which our SS, Heer and Cossack troops are located?

OOC: Why don't you just accidentally ran at the house in which our SS, Heer and Cossack troops are located?


OOC: I second the motion. You've got like, at least a couple platoons worth of Germans and Cossacks.

OOC: I like that idea!

OOC: Why don't you just accidentally ran at the house in which our SS, Heer and Cossack troops are located?

That leaves the question: Where are your troops located? I can hardly make a diversion of hundreds of kilometres along Eastern Germany to reach Stuttgart, You know. :D

That leaves the question: Where are your troops located? I can hardly make a diversion of hundreds of kilometres along Eastern Germany to reach Stuttgart, You know. :D

OOC: Meh, a tiny logistical problem! Though I can see your point, I just say we say it is on your path, no further wuestions, case closed. Saves much trouble and allows this RP to move on. Otherwise our guys will just sit in the house and your dudes frive their tanks to eternity, and that doesn't fit into my ideal of a WW2 Squad Based RP :p

:upyours:

(OOC: Yes.. Yes... Cut it, will you?)

The Centurion tanks, allied to the captured, and very thirsty, Königstiger tanks, drove along the road at a medium speed, showing large clouds of dust behind the column. Soldiers weren't watching the surroundigns that hard, and mostly talked to their allies in the process. The turrets weren't manned, and nobody paid attention to it. It rpobably was safe, and otherwise, the Königstiger or Centurions would convince the attacker that they were taking on friendly forces. Hopefully.

However, people were more thinking about their final destination. Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz' hometown. Van Luxemburgian soldiers already spent rumours that their HQ would be located inside the MB factories, next to the line of which the most prestigious cars Germany had rolled off. It was however a long way to Stuttgart. Vehicles moved along small, silent and dangerous countryside roads. Some bombed, and with enormous holes in the middle. It was however trustful, as, in most villages, people were friendly to them, and the tanks had large Baden-Württemberger/Van Luxemburgian flags mounted on them. It showed the trustful Van Luxemburgians were happy to move along Baden-Württemberg, a state which found themselves slightly separate from Germany, as it had been a Kingdom or autonomous state before Mr. Heil took over. Van Luxemburgians had learned to avoid his name, and hated to say it, but if they had to. It partly was because it's negative words about Van Luxemburg, but also partly because of the Fiercely fighting Germans and their Axis.

But for now, the crowds were happy and so were the crews. Nothing could stop them.

the captive German tankers were beginning to enjoy their road trip.

Now as they approached the mountains where had planned to go originally and carry on the fight, Major Jager now knew it would have been futile anyway.

OOC: The smiley was a random one. I didn't want to type "bump" so I hit a smiley. Not meant to be taken as an insult ;)

(OOC: OK. I already thought you'd gone rude.. :p )

Amon nodded and said,

"Yes..family..."

Gretta smiled and kissed him back this time but on his lips. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes,

"I feel safe with you Erich..safer than i do with any of them.."

Ralph smiled and replyed,

"I think we will be fine...Lt Baffmann and Melehov are good leaders arn't they?"

Bauffmann started yelling at the top of his lungs,

"You have no right to talk to me like that in front of the men! you have no thought in your mind we did what was right! we had a good thing Melehov! we were on the top of the world my friend!...i will fight to the end for what i trust in..read your belt buckle and remember if it has slipped your mind...Mein Gott,Mitt Uns..god is with us my friend..we are still alive for a purpose!!"

He calmed down at sat on the table, wiping his brow with his sleeve he took a loose cigerette out of his left breast pocket,

"We still wear the uniform...conduct yourself like a member of the german armed forces! even in retreat we still fight do we not!"

Bauffmann looked at Weber and smirked,

"We will rise again brother....this will all be sorted out, the fuhuer will use politics to bail us out..watch! Weber...to speak like this is treason as you know! officers are being shot often now for speaking like this...come now..let us change the subject, i don't feel any of us should face a firing squad...shhh"

He raised his fingers to his lips looking around the dark,damp room...

Erich faced Gretta and did a long kiss with Gretta. Then he got up and faced her. "I love you. You need to get some sleep." Pulling out a blanket from his sack he handed it toward her. Erich got and put his helmet on. Then he got his MP44. Freidrich and Dietrich followed him outside with their weapons. Heinrich watched over Ralph. While Wagner spent time with Amon.

Gretta was suprized at the shy boys action, she sat back with a smile on her face and watched him leave. Amon sat with Wagner telling war storys,

"But i destroyed two two T34's with an 88 flak!, we reloaded after the first one exploded then let him have it to.."

He smiled awaiting a responce...

"Wow, I haven't seen any combat at all. Let alone fire my gun. It useless I really don't want to die in this war." Wagner commented.

Heinrich left Ralph for a minute to check on the people downstairs. He looked at Gretta she was all by herself, but she had a smile on her face. Heinrich knew she was beautiful, but he kept that to himself. Going over to her he kneeled down.

"So what you going to do after the war ends?"

She sat up and responded to him,

"I...am not really sure.." she said softly

"I want to find a good man...maybe start a family and live in the country.."

She looked at him still smiling,

"I will have many storys to tell my childern..that is..if i make it out of this.."

Ralph lay quietly on the floor proped up on a sleeping bag. He held a pamplet in his good hand reading it quietly to himself, time had to be passed some how and he figured this was the best way to do it..read..

The pamplet was dated 1943, it was propaganda that was left in the abandoned house.

Heinrich gave a kiss on her cheek. "You need to get some sleep Gretta." Then walked back upstairs to see Ralph looking at pamplet. "Hey Ralph what is that?"

Wagner looked at Amon. "I'm getting pretty tired maybe you can tell me some stories about the war." Then he got in the sleeping bag and blew out the candle.

Erich, Freidrich, Dietrich were making there way out into the forest. They silently moved forward.

bump

bump

Heinrich gave a kiss on her cheek. "You need to get some sleep Gretta." Then walked back upstairs to see Ralph looking at pamplet. "Hey Ralph what is that?"

Wagner looked at Amon. "I'm getting pretty tired maybe you can tell me some stories about the war." Then he got in the sleeping bag and blew out the candle.

Erich, Freidrich, Dietrich were making there way out into the forest. They silently moved forward.

Gretta layed her head back and closed her eyes, she was tired and needed sleep very badly..she would dream of Heinrich and the wars end.

Amon smiled,

"Of course.."

He continued..

"Once me and two commrades were pinned down by russian gun fire, i think they had PPSH's...on our side were some Whermacht and SS troops with an MG-34 trying to get them to withdraw then a T-34 came smashing through a brick wall behind us by the Whermact and SS men, the bow machine gun opened fire cutting them all down.."

He watched Wagners expression, the candle light flickered off the young boys face,

"My commrade Lars rolled over with his Panzerfaust and let off a shot hitting the tank right in it's belly! it must have shocked the crew because my Hitler youth acting commander...Christian..he was 17..jumped up with his MP-44 and ran over the the veiwing slot firing rapidly into it while i turned my STG-44on the russians to our front! i mowed down two of them and Lars killed one and wounded one with his pistol.."

He took a deep breath..

"Lars and Christian are dead...they died three days ago trying to hold a flak 88 we manned..."

His face turned to a saddened expression, it looked as if he held back tears..

"I had to run..Gretta and Ralph needed my help, i feel as if it's my fault.."