Memoirs of an AHC officer

BEF OiC 10-8-06

2006-08-11T12:18:00.000Z

My OiC activites since my last report have been fairly quiet, but tonight's action was back to the norm!

I took over at about 2200 from howie622. We had just lost S-Hertogenbosch and launched a counter, though with no OiC. I asked for one and Szyporyn took the reigns of an action which quickly became a defence of Empel as the axis roller gathered steam. Empel came under real strife and Heusden was AO'd too. I asked for defence to be arranged and the bridge raised more than 10 minutes before the AO, but no players were "available", so I undertook the task myself, raising the bridge AND trying to shoot the few EI that started to capture the south CP's. I got the bridge up and got an MSP up to the south side and defenders started to arrive. However, I was expected not only to OiC the BEF, but cover every CP in the town and we lost the docks withing 5 or 10 minutes, leaving Empel surrounded and Dussen under threat since the undefended Waalwijk was also in enemy hands.

Zippo6's Operation Meatshield also kicked off and really boosted the attack against Wavre, which was ultimately successful, giving us a bigger buffer around Brussels and continued well into the night.

I abandoned Empel since it was a lost cause and low on supply, in order to prepare a defence of Dussen, a town which must be next! Thankfully the defence here was somewhat quicker to respond and I was able to tow ATG SE of the town to hold up the enemy, as well as mow down a number of enemy infantry with my morris AND park right next to a pz4g, allowing our sappers to simply follow my tag to the enemy tank. ( http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b334/bionicghost/sillytiger.jpg )

Throughout this time, Starship was stellar in his task of blowing up the enemy FBs to prevent us from being overwhelmed in the future. I passed the BEF to Zippo6 at about 0040 BST in order to fully divert the BEF to Meatshield!

BEF OiC 28-7-06

2006-07-28T21:17:00.000Z

I took BEF OiC at 1940 from Kawarazi after his 4 hour stint.

I kicked off by getting 2nd Division's FB's allied, which held for quite some time. An attack on Boxtel had been ongoing from before I took charge and I removed it at 2045 because it was stagnating. Lommel came under heavy attack and Jwolf put up a valiant defence effort with his garrison. To try and bleed off some pressure, Aurbo blew up the Eersel-Lommel FB and I launched an assault on Eersel itself. The Eersel diversion made some good headway but the defences were slow to react but eventually far too strong in numbers for us so we pulled back. After losing Lommel, I tasked howie622 to counter attack Lommel after we abandoned it, which too eventually bogged down.

In order to save the SAS brigade, Arendonk was left empty while the divisional HQ was shuffled round. SAS was pulled back to allow howie622 to get his counter underway more quickly, though it did draw an AO onto Arendonk, leading to an epic battle. With the tables hot for 4 minutes I was finally able to move a unit back in and the snap defence started. I logged into the Eersel spawnable CP which was capped shortly after I spawned. I rushed the CP with my smg, killed the 2 defenders and took the CP, but was killed shortly after. What we needed was defensive MSP. I was able to deploy 2, 1 south of town and one very close in west. Both journies were very hairy, since leaving the AB I was under heavy gunfire, with HE bursts all around for almost 100m. The MSP got the troops where we needed them and with the help of a HAAC we libbed the town.

After Arendonk, the enemy were able to zerg S-Hertogenbosch and overhwhelmed the town since we were far too slow to react, though a counter was launced immediately under the hand of s82ndab. The enemy also attacked Leopoldsburg but were thrown back.

All the while, ArFr were kicking some serious ass!

I logged off at 2215, passing to Hotshot.

Helchteren Defence 27-7-06

2006-07-27T10:19:00.000Z

2nd Division had been pushed back and 1st Division was stretched out too far North. An Enemy AO was pulled from Peer and placed on the empty Helchteren, right into our trap. 1st Guards quickly occupied the town 5 minutes after the AO and BEF troops re-secured the town destroying a large number of enemy tanks. We did lose a few CP's initially but we soon gained them back with the help of a HAAC, giving the German hordes a very bloody nose indeed!

I took a sapper and made my way 1km South of town to spot what I thought would be the inevitable panzer rush, which there was. I destroyed a 4g and a 38t and was able to spot at least 6 other mid-grade panzers coming into the town across the open fields and they were destroyed by our ATG. I crept closer to the enemy FB and found a 4g dug in, but under fire from a Churchill. I worked my way to within 50m of him, but he took a heavy hit and bugged out. I went even closer to their FB with 2 churchills and a DAC around me, all of which were killed in the open by 88's and a Stug 3g I noticed south. I pursused him for vengence, but he must have seen me coming or been warned of my presence and he reversed sharply. I dived out of the way but he turned into me as I tried to sap one of his tracks.

BEF OiC 25-7-06

2006-07-27T10:15:00.000Z

I took BEF OiC at 2300 BST with the BEF under major pressure, allowing ArFr to push hard. A large resupply was undertaken of Bilzen and Poker with the Q.R.R. were doing excellent work tieing up many German troops in Helmond.

With the ArFr pushing hard in Vise, I had the BEF deploy to support them while guarding our own FB's. Sadly no-one bothered to guard the FB's and they fell creating us even more problems.

I logged off as BEF OiC at 0010 BST.

BEF OiC 23-7-06

2006-07-23T22:10:00.000Z

I took the BEF when no-one was at the helm and immediately got to work. Maasiek was under sustained attack and and attack against Rips had been left unattended and was floundering.

We defended staunchly at Maasiek while I readied and attack against Sittard under the supervision of Lloyd403. I left Rips on to keep the Germans occupied since we were able to cap the odd CP but not hold anything substantial. The Sittard assault started brightly and we were able to make headway but we evevntually had to pull back since we lost all our bedford trucks despite starting with a full spawn list. Unfortunatly, having intended to pull the Rips AO a few minutes after Sittard went up, the enemy fellback anyway.

During the Sittard attack, the enemy also attacked Helmond so I evacuated the Divisional HQ to Eind, with a view to moving the brigade that has just occupied Helmond back to Eindhoven rather than let it fallback. I spawned into the spawnable CP just as it fell (although I had been asking for OiC and troops there for 15 minutes prior) but through a CTHL was unable to help. By the time I returned we were down to the AB only and thanks to a refusal from the playerbase to respond to questions as well as call to arms, the bunker fell as a surprise and went to Eind, not to Eindhoven.

I began to walk the Divisional HQ into Eindhoven, knowing I would have to leave part way through, but with BEF HC online anyway, I felt they could continue the moves. None were willing/able to do this so the BEF was left without an OiC when I had to log off.

Maastrict-Aachen FB bust 17/7/06

2006-07-18T08:23:00.000Z

The Maastrict-Aachen FB needed a-blown' so I hopped to it. Horkesh was doing a sterling job as BEF OiC, though my own task proved rather taxing. My first attempt left my bedford and my towed AAA specialist, Reichfur battered and bleeding c/o an 88 at the fb that spotted us a long way out. The second time I went around to the North and deployed much closer and much safer than before.

Sappers disembarked and made their way to the FB, destroying the vehicle spawn quickly, leaving us to place only 4 charges on the infantry spawn. It was tough going but finally Thorpug made it up to the walls of the infantry tents and placed the final blow upon them. The return trip was somewhat more exciting. The radio blurted, "Help, come quick, we have sniper fire everywhere!" I sped towards the old FB site to rescue our soldiers, pausing to pick-up Reichfur, but he waved me away insisting I ",pick up the lads first", and he was right too. I got to within 100m of my first rescue, Migs, when a 109 swept down from the sky to strafe us forcing me to take radical evasive action. I continued on undeterred to pick up the other 4 sappers while Reichfur gave the 109 something to think about!

It was a close one but we made it back to Maastrict with a song in our hearts and a tot of rum in our bellies!

Bionicg returns 14-7-06

2006-07-14T11:09:00.000Z

My first action since injury was in Eindhoven. I managed to juggle the defence of the city and guarding the spawnable CP (though one sneaky guy managed to cap while I checked the map!), killing 10-15 ei for only 3 or 4 of my units. Though the EAB fell, we liberated the town, armybase last, kicking their AO. Though another AO was put right back on by the enemy, I grabbed a Morris and loaded it up with sappers for a daring raid on the enemy FB from Helmond. We raced North of the FB then due south, through bushes and berms, trees and flowers and parked right next to the infantry spawn allowing the brave sappers to disembark and destroy the FB, safely securing the town.

GFA Award 28-6-06

2006-06-28T20:25:00.000Z

Awarded the Ground Forces Academy ribbon for my test. It's very flash :D

Campaign #30 Stats

2006-06-12T12:00:00.000Z

BEF Stats:
Sorties:566
Successes:50
RTBs:257
Rescues:30
MIAs:52
KIAs:227
Captures:11
Damages:443
Kills:317
Deaths:235
Kill/Death:1.35

ArFr Stats:
Sorties:100
Successes:7
RTBs:33
Rescues:3
MIAs:11
KIAs:53
Captures:2
Damages:121
Kills:83
Deaths:56
Kill/Death:1.48

End of Campaign #30

2006-06-12T11:59:00.000Z

My first campaign as 2nd AB CO, albeit abortive through injury. Luckily we have built up a great officer base and the squads are really pulling together to make it work. After coming under heavy pressure in Antwerp at the start of the campaign, we pushed all the way back to Germany, eventually capturing the enemy factories. We have done some great "unplanned" brigade operations, those on the spur of the moment (armour columns and town defences and the like), with the most notable at Kerpen, defending the airbase till we were nearly wholly depleted but we still held firm.

I wont be in campaign 31 for some time, if at all but I'm sure 2nd AB will pull through very well as it already has.

(written 28/6/06)

Action in Leuven 11-6-06

2006-06-12T08:21:00.000Z

The main action of the day was clearing up the 1.Panzer tourist division that had warped itself into action, with paradrops on Temse and the last battle in Leuven to finally kill the division. I spawned off orrman's MSP to the West and made it to the south CP where Vartan and I were cut down. We returned by a different route and I made a beeline for the bunker. The most direct route for me was right across the AB square so on I ran, EI still spawning in the barracks, surprised to see an AHC charging across the open ground firing from the hip. I could see the bullet dust marks puffing up the ground around me but I pressed on and made it to the bunker walls. Pausing for breath I proceeded to enter cautiously, killing only 1 enemy infantry on the way which disappointed me. In the table room, the table was up but not the radio and as I waited for the table, the odd enemy came to say hello but felt the rough end of my Thompson smg. I was joined later by horny77 who covered me while I sent the German division to hell.

BEF OiC 8-6-06

2006-06-09T09:14:00.000Z

I arrived at the front at 1110 BST and to my amazement, with BEF ranks from the highest to lowest online, no-one was taking charge - a cue for me to enter the OiC shoes. Dormagen was under attack the whole time and the defenders there did excellent work keeping the town uncontested the vast majority of the time and keeping the bridge down to really slow up the enemy's advance. We also attacked and capped Bruhl, with myself taking an MSP E of town (quite far out) but using a morris to ferry troops much close to the action to right where they were needed - a very effective tactic on this occasion. We took the town and had to shuffle 2nd Div even further down to a very precarious state, but with numbers to defend it was OK.

Dormagen came under renewed pressure so I send those who wanted to fight to shore up 5th Briagde's defences and began the Krefeld pre-supply of armour. A great response from players ensured some lively banter on f1 channel AND gave us a great deal of armour to use in the next attack: objective Ratingen! I tasked stalker2 with the OiC of the attack and it was executed with his usual precision and aplomb and the town was ours easily, setting us up nicely for Dusseldorf once supply had built up.

It being rather late I retired and passed to Sleke who it would seem led the BEF to greater glory than I could have hoped, capturing both Dusseldorf AND Koln! Hurrah!

Neuss armour column attack 7-6-06

2006-06-08T09:47:00.000Z

In keeping with my CO-ship of an armoured brigade I 'volunteered' to do an armour column from MG to Neuss, with Stalker2 OiC of the attack. The timing was perfect. Our infantry had taken a few CP's in town but lost them since they were hard to cover and the initial LW armour to the south had been destroyed. We emerged from the forrest right into the arms of our MSPs to the NW and picked up infantry along the way and after a pause to assemble were able to roll right into the town leaving the infantry to cap.

This was a great example of infantry covering armour since we lost NOT ONE tank to enemy sappers or to an unmarked tank/atg. DAC's were used to great effectiveness as scouts and flank cover while the Churchills provided a Crusader covered core to punch a hole into town. Great work all!

2nd AB OiC 7-6-06

2006-06-08T09:22:00.000Z

For once I was able to spend all my time in 2nd AB and we were kept busy. I tasked 2nd AB to hold the Kerpen FB's since we had already lost 2 of the 3 and with the sitreps from other fbs, I felt an attack brewing. We took the Koln fb but lost the Bruhl and Euskirchen fb and it is from these directions that they attacked. At one point very early in the battle no-one noticed the pz4g parked in the centre of town on the bridge (beggars belief??) and my bedford was destroyed trying to get to the S fb only minutes after leaving, but i dealt out swift rifle grenade flavoured justice to him.

We kept up a good defensive pocket and for more than 100 minutes I was roaming around to the W of town spotting emsp, blowing up tanks and killing infantry. Having come across a tank group, of a Stug g, tiger and pz3 with infantry, I was helped by a bomb near the tiger which killed the supporting ei, I rg'd the pz3 and the Stug G ran off and the cowardly tiger simply despawned. I hooked up with Regain and we made our way back to town killing some more ei on the way. We lost the Koln fb eventually but it was too late for the German armour who fell before our mighty gates. It was only then that we lost a CP or 2 and even then recaps were facilitated quickly. We had reports of a lot of enemy infantry coming in from the NE so I did a defensive UMS to the north of town and set off on a sweep. I hooked up with some more troops and we went SE of town, due East of the airfield where a lot of enemy infantry was reported and were able to clear them out quite well. The attack was finally beaten (with the axis pulling all AO's but ours!) when we had all the FB's in our hands and while the AO remained, they had nothing left to throw at us. 2nd AB 1 - Panzerg 0

All the 2nd AB squads performed most admirably in this battle and are all deserving of a mention as are BKB who who's daring was key in securing some of the FB's.

BEF OiC and Neiderkruchten attack 1-6-06

2006-06-01T22:05:00.000Z

I took the BEF in a good condition. Aachen was under a good mole, drawning many enemy away and we had the vast majority of our FB's allied. Moling was all well and good but it isn't all that exciting really so I decided to unleash the BEF upon Niederkruchten (also see Nipple-crunchen, Newey-crutches and Nieder-krinken). I led the attack personally with an MSP, with 40 Commando providing a vital supply cut and useful MSP to the NE. We got infantry into the town and the AO up and secured the spawnable CP very quickly. With only 1 minute to go to the tables going hot, the paratroopers of the 22nd Mech landed and provided further reinforcement to our contingent. We capped held that W CP throughout the whole battle providing an indispensable platform for Stalker2's armour column (very beefy thanks to Horkesh and 22nd mechs anal resupply efforts!) to enter the town and finish off the armour to the south that our sappers and rg-men had made good headway on. More armour and more MSP drove in and barfly and poker had an excellent "alternating" arrangement to keep our distribution of troops into the town even. Meanwhile, the FB came under attack, but a swift response from Skorzeni and his men repelled the attackers and held the FB to the end of the battle.

We lost the city cp only once but held it the second time and almost in a flash we had only the AB to cap. With armour supressing the inf spawns and our men in the bunker we started the cap. But unfortunatly, no-one way guarding the E CP so we pulled off the bunker cap. However, fortuitously I was just going to the E CP to check the guard so I was able to knock out the guard and hold until more men came to help.

With all the CP under our Union Jacked cosh we capped the town and prepared for a counter. Igorsunc was very swift in organising a fighter sweep to clear the skies above the town, which had been carpetbombed for the last 10 minutes of the battle from Gladbach airfield only 20km away.

The counter attack came with a whistle and then a pop as their limp attempts to recapture the town failed in the time it took to blow up 3 opels from 500m with a Churchill tank.

2nd Infantry Division Action 24-5-06

2006-05-24T20:49:00.000Z

First off I noted that the 2nd AB FB from Maastrict to Aachen was axis and there was a full armoured EWS on the town. The prompted me to grab a sapper and check it out, though the EWS vanished when I got there. So I went of the FB, towing a 6lber with me. Unfortunatly a hidden berm left me to leave a UMSP in place while I went to return with alternative transport. I grabbed a morris and we got all but 4 charges on the FB before the resistance became stern. I decided to take action, with the MSP down and my morris in safety I had to act. I picked up squaddie Jharding and 2 others and raced them the 300m to the infantry spawn. Ei appeared from bushes left and right to shoot us with their automatic weapons, bullets pinging off the bonnet, unfortunatly costing the lives of 2 of the sappers, but 1 remained alive and as I pulled up at the infantry spawn he hopped off and sapped the FB. It was down. I turned to pick him up but he was cruelly slain by an enemy SMG so I returned to base.

The next turn of luck was in 5th brigade in Elsloo. Luckily I noticed the second we lost our FB and the et EWS went maxed out right away. I grabbed a sapper to investigate and came across a whole enemy armoured column to the North East, 15 to 20 4g, stug, tigers and pz3! I called it in and we got a defence up. I stayed in the field calling the inbound targets and watching them die to our RG, sappers and ATG, killing a Pz4d myself until I was killed while creeping up on an enemy MSP, so close to it aswell! I returned to huard the CPs in town. And eventually the bunker. We lost only ever 1 cp at a time and never the spawnable while we had good supply, though of course there are those who WILL spawn tanks despite all warnings of ET zeroed on the AB! I decided to finish it once and for all. By some miracle, we took back the enemy FB and fellback to Genk. The attack waned almost immediately and the rest was academic. What also helped greatly was the allied attack on Sittard, which itself went into fallback, killing the enemy FB to Elsloo destroying any hope they had of a capture.

Sadly, the server came down within 20 minutes so our excellent work in attrition was for nought., but 2nd AB fought most admirably in the town. Many thanks to all those who tirelessly covered CP's, gave us fallback MSP and heroically blew the fb.

The best thing is, we got our very own whine on the BGE forums! http://discussions.playnet.com/showthread.php?t=111983&highlight=elsloo

Promotion

2006-05-24T20:48:00.000Z

Recieved my promotion to Brigadier to compliment my CO-ship of 2nd Armoured Brigade.

Action and BEF OiC 22-5-06

2006-05-22T15:24:00.000Z

I started off helping Horkesh on his herculean quest to overstock Genk, I did a few DACs before the prospect of a fallback in Weert arose. I drove beddies to and fro from Aachel FB and the fallback was a complete success setting up UMS W and S of town.

I then took the BEF OiC from Jamm40 at about 1130 BST. The German's AO Veghel and Eindhoven so a shuffle was in order. I put SAS up into Eindhoven and the SAS stayed in Aachel after a brief stay in Weert to cover it for 15 minutes, though this did leave it undefended in the end, it was more important to hold Eindhoven securely. After heavy pressure in Veghel and moling in Eindhoven the Germans gave up and went for the easy cap in Eind. They later AO'd and capped the empty Weert, unoccupyable due to our defence in Eindhoven. At 1315 I had to take lunch and passed the OiC to Cavalier.

I returned at 1400 BST to help Horkesh once more and blow the Genk-Elsloo FB to keep the precious supply from an enemy attack. At 1440, Cavalier logged so I once more took the BEF. With Arfr under pressure I decided an attack on Maasiek would serve us best. The troops were patient on FB defence while I drove a beddy to the East side of Maasiek via the Roemond Rail Bridge (30 KM up to the bridge then back - so it took some time), though it took slightly longer since my first beddy lagged up on a corner and took a swim. I eventually got one up and with other MSP on the way to the west side with ATG, the attack looked bright. As dawn broke I planned to fill the west full of infantry, launch the AO, then hit them with a sucker punch capturing their easter CP and their AB. Sadly, technology had other ideas and my monitor conked out, leaving me to try and fix it but eventually admitting defeat, typing blind on channel 6 and .hc about my predicament hoping that someone else could take charge, leaving a UMS where i was hoping that someone would have spawned in during my crisis.

Even as we speak I'm on a housemates Mac (ergh) to bring this message to you all!

Action in Peer 21-5-06

2006-05-21T12:37:00.000Z

I joined in at about 1100 BST to see Peer under an AO but little or no pressure and joined in spp's recently posted MSP mission to the Peer-Maaseik FB to kill any chance of an enemy attack. As I crept closer to the FB with another sapper, an Opel raced out of the fb towards town. I gave orders not to fire, but to concentrate on the firebase. It sped past and we were only 20m from the vehicle spawn. We raced across the open ground past a bofors flak gun and planted the charges just as 2 Pz4g spawned in. We destroyed the Vehicle spawn but the tanks were able to get the better of us since we had just blown up our only hard cover!

Spp's MSP was killed and he returned, deploying a little further away this time. More sappers joined the fray this time and just as I left the MSP, I noticed a 232, obviousl stimulated by our previous attack had just parked only 30m from our MSP on the other side of the berm. I hid in a bush until he killed the MSP and went away. I decided to flank round the FB to the south along the road before cutting back ENE onto the infantry spawn. Another sapper was 500m ahead of me and got 4 charges off before being killed. Scanning the area I noticed a few EI and a 232 on a roving patrol, I got up to within 40m of the infantry spawn with only a hedge between me and it. Luck was with me because not only did an enemy rifleman run right past me without seeing me, the 232 on patrol burst through the hedge only 1m infront of me. Any closer and I'd have been killed.

The 232 then parked up south of the FB, watching NW but able to spin around at any moment. With plenty of noise of moving armour at the vehicle spawn I took my chance across the open ground. I charged to the FB, placing 2 satchels on the west side and then 2 on the North, knowing that escape was impossible I made an attempt to find some cover to no avail. I was cut down, but satisfied that my task was complete.

I then moved to the new allied, Peer-Maaseik FB. I setup OP points to the East, South-East and South. Soon we had some action. Opels and armour came in but were all quickly spotted and destroyed by some very effective Vickers tank work, while in town we annihilated the armour which had rushed Peer without a chance of RTB or infantry support.

Liege Attack 20-5-06

2006-05-20T23:52:00.000Z

Following much fannying about earlier in the day, we could finally be released! The assault began at about 2000 BST with K1ng at the helm, with the BEF using ArFr materials. While K1ng worked on ArFr troops south of the river, I arranged an MSP to the W cp's, our spawnables, so that we could have a good foothold in the town. My MSP was eventually killed by EA but the battle raged on.

We got more and more MSP on the way all the time and by the arrival of a wave of US TZ players, we already held most of the NW of town and a few CP in the SW quarter, but they gave us the boost we needed to press home our advantage. I swapped over to ArFr, manning a variety of infantry and armour, and at one point and ill fated Laffly that took on a Tiger and ...well no doubt one can guess. We kept on pushing and soon we had all but the NE and E side CP's in our benevolent control. All the while the axis were funneling in tanks from far afield, but we drove them back and at about 0045 BST, a short 4 hours 45 mins later, the town was ours.

Hurrah!

Action and BEF OiC 20-5-06

2006-05-20T19:06:00.000Z

I logged on at a spritely 10Am to join my fellow 22nders in the defence of the Aachel-Weert FB. And what a defence it was. We killed the vast majority of the armour and sappers that Weert had to throw at us for very minimal cost until they eventually gave up! With the bulk of the BEF busy helping ArFr, I volunteered to get a BEf AO going, selecting Tongeren as a prime target. The attack went well with no casualties and was occupied by 2nd Division HQ, leaving us with 5 links to Liege.

An AO had been long standing on Elsloo so after a CTHL I decided to launch some diversionary measures there to help Helmond's defence. My few caps were not enough to save Helmond, but perhaps slowed it's capture, but the whole of the BEF seemed to turn up. As I was driving my MSP out to the town I was warned that I had only 5 minutes, but the AO stayed on and we capped a number of CP's before the enemy started to respond. Eventually, after I had blown up a few tigers and a 232 in their vehicle spawn, we help all CP's except the AB, all from what was meant to be harrassment (in a town we could not occupy) spiralling out of countrol. Luckily the BEF was as good as ever at covering CPs and the Germans pushed back and recapped the town without losing the AB, thus our attrition had not been in vain.

At about 4PM I took the BEF OiC and launched a raid on Maastrict with paras. We made a few early caps but 1/3 of the paras died on landing and the raid eventually petered to a halt, though unbeknown to me, MSP were on the way and soon the NW and SE of the town was full of tommies capping away, without any armour support. We capped a good few cp's and caused a very quick HAAC from GHC, proving their wobbliness, as well as bringing out what seemed like every German on the map to the town. We killed a good proportion of their armour and importantly, forced their Division HQ to Liege, ripe for an attack later in the day.

I passed the OiC to K1ng at about 1840.

Awards 16-5-06

2006-05-16T19:51:00.000Z

Awarded the Distinguished Service Ribbon and Distinguished Officer Order by the 22nd Mech. Nice to have some more awards (makes me look 'virtually' cool!) and congratulations to the other chaps who were awarded them too!

Promotion 15-5-06

2006-05-16T19:50:00.000Z

Promoted to CO of 2nd Armoured Brigade. What an honour! I look forward to leading the guys on a regular basis and things are looking good already. We have a full OrBat and Sres has kindly setup a 2nd AB forum for us to keep in contact and plan ops!

Hardcore Coalition strikes 12-5-06

2006-05-12T19:39:00.000Z

With the game server coming down there was but one course of action. CHARGE!! We laid and AO on diest and rushed to the town. A tiger came out to meet us but I smote him with a sap charge, leaving him burning, perishing in the heat. EI came to rescure their striken and charred comrades, but they too felt the business end of my rifle. We rushed the town, overpowering the defences, prevented from capping the town ONLY by the cap and spawn lock, heinously imposed upon us by the one they call CRS!!

HURRAH TO ALL BRAVE SOULS!

BEF in ArFr 7-5-06

2006-05-08T11:56:00.000Z

Under the watchful eye of Zippo the BEF went into battle for ArFr. Andenne had fallen and as i logged on, Eghezee was down to all but a few rifles. Swift action was called for. Andenne had to be ours! We blasted through the Andenne-Namur FB and launched our attack which came off without many problems. We capped the south cp's with British paratroops with myself as an ATG on zippo's MSP. While we came under fire before deploying the attack went off without a hitch and very minimal casualties and the town was ours within 30 minutes during which time the Germans moved the brigade in Eghezee back to Andenne, with the division back to Huy to prevent the cutting off of all the division's brigades (though 2 remain trapped in the south around Anhee and Profondeville).

Then came the counter attack. Enemy tanks and infantry were buzzing all over the North East and South East of town, starting with a paradrop which was slaughtered. With limited supply in our depots, I moved an MSP into the south depot from the AB to speed up troop movement and eventually we repelled them. By this time, the enemy divison was in Bouillet, resupplying Huy which had been emptied for the Eghezee attack and plenty of enemy tanks came but were destroyed. We were to push onto Huy, but their FB proved very tough. I had a Stuart in support of the FB assault and was able to kill numerous infantry, tanks and ATG before returning to base low on ammo.

The Hardcore Coalition

2006-05-06T20:26:00.000Z

......is coming........................

BEF OiC 6-5-06

2006-05-06T20:21:00.000Z

I took over from Sres at about 1900 GMT. We had just liberated Oostmalle and Roosendaal had been held well. We got all the FB's and an attack against Etten-Leur was launched under the steady hand of Goof (who had been VERY active prior to my OiC-ship). The attack was supported by my incursion towards Hoogstraten. Etten-Leurs attack went well but we couldn't get much further than the spawnable cp and we had to withdraw due to low supplies. The Hoogstraten attack started brightly and we captured 2 cps in a perfect infatyr only assault. The attack stalled a little while my only MSP died (despite my frequent requests for more), the enemy regained the town. We proceeded in earnest with more MSP and tanks this time and the attack was going well when I had to log off.

I passed to Igorsunc at about 2100 GMT who kindly took the BEF despite being a fly-boy through and through. Sadly no other BEF HC were on, perhaps at a party that I wasnt invited to :P. My thanks also to Marah for all his help.

BEF OiC 3-5-06

2006-05-03T21:46:00.000Z

I took over from K1ng, still without his tools, at about 1900GMT. Paal was in a bad way and fell soon after I took over. We launched an immediate counter attack and at one point held all but 1 cp and the AB. But MSP's other than mine were not forthcoming and we lost our foothold. We tried to keep probing the defences but they were too strong and we had to abandon our hopes of getting it back so soon.

Then began a massive resupply effort, my effort in a Churchill III giving me ample time to plan our next move - against S-Hertogenbosch. We got MSP's in well this time and kept getting 1 CP up but not quite holding on long enough to bump the Airfield defences. The battle raged on while I had to log off at about 2235 GMT, passing the baton to GPVB.

2nd Infantry Division action 29-4-06

2006-04-30T11:42:00.000Z

I logged on at about 1800 GMT with an attack on Waremme failing, drawing away valuable supplies from St Truiden which would have to withstand assault from 2 AB Hasselt. Skyfallr was already in town so he took the OiC of the defence while I organised supply from Tienen. The response was outstanding and while we could resupply armour and atg effectively, getting infantry to the beseiged town was a trifle tricky. I brought a few DAC's to town, keeping the last one to help clear the north of the town, doing quite a roaring trade. The town held.

With Diest as our next target, the 22nd mech set to pre-supply mode. We set a DAC race from Leuevn to Aarschot and had a blast doing it. While the Diest attack had already started, the FB (having been held by the 22nd earlier, killing most of diest's sapper contingent!) was damaged after we left to resupply, needing only 2 charges to be destroyed. I took a crusader 3 and some 22nd infantry to the prospect fb and waited. The infantry larked about a bit and wasted a bit of ammo. Just as most were getting a bit bored, the enemy FB came up. Our patience had paid off. Sadly, it all went wrong there. Only Zbarsky got his charges off while the rest of the sappers died. The armour held the spawners at the FB until an MSP could be brought up. The delay did stall our attack but we were able to press on and take the town.

Next up was the Diest-Paal FB which had to come down. I took my Crusader 3 (the same one from the FB precamp!) from the town attack to the new FB, though nothing much was doing with most of Paal's supply occupied in Geel. We had reports of heavy tank concentrations from the Diest-Hasselt FB to the south do I headed to intercept. Following reports of enemy tanks on the plains south of Diest, I headed out and after some scouting came across the column. Just as I arrived, gunnerg's 2lber opened up on them causing a 232 to lose a wheel and a Pz3 to turn to face him. I hit the 232 and blew him out of the way and proceeded with some excellent flank shots on the first Pz3 since gunnerg had drawn his fire. I nuked his engine and killed his main gunner. Then another one slunk into view to the north and I dispatched him with gunnerg's shots too. With the pain clear we RTB.

With Paal empty from it's exertions in Geel, we struck. The RAF took out the bridges and the BEF took the town with little hassle.

Most of these gains were due to the hard work and determination of BEF OiC Zippo6 who really pushed home the attacks, leading each on from the front and making sure that 1st Division, who soaked up 3 axis AO's during this time had adequate cover to hold their territory.

BEF OiC 19-04-06

2006-04-19T21:57:00.000Z

I took the reigns at 1415 GMT and saw Hasselt coming under the cosh. I attempted to knock out the Genk fb while others worked on the other of 4 fb's to the town but it was hot and my bedford was lost after a few minutes deployed, with not 1 soldier off. I then went to the Bilzen FB with fellow 22nder Horkesh. We had a whale of a battle, knocking out what we thought was 1 of 2 opels just after it deployed, with the other down shortly after. Looking back towards the FB I saw ei running up to the inf spawn from the NW. There were 3 MSP and Horkesh was alone near the v spawn trying to hold them off. I despawned and grabbed another unit, spawning in moments before the fb was lost, with us both taking out all the ei around. Horkesh despawned his rifle right away to help in town, but I had a sapper so I ran to the enemy FB and knocked out a a tank that tried to leave their veh spawn as I was placing charges, taking it to 87% damage. We lost the town but pressed on with an attack on Liege as a distraction, while I placed an AO on Maastrict, to force them to move a brigade back to defend and also goad them into attacking Tongeren, rather than other units further up that could have led to a cut-off of 2nd Division.
I logged off at 1700GMT passing to K1ng.

I returned at 1850 GMT and set Bohratom to his excellent low pop cap of Boxtel, now home of the 1st Guards, and even had the chance to do some shootin' myself! Boxtel held well after a slight probe of an enemy counter attack and with 1st Division's supply low, a potential attack on Eersel was postponed until after an attack on Paal, headed up by Sres. With the numbers only NOW equal many msp and atg out in the field, we couldn't lose and myself and Macdelta did a roaring trade on the North gate of their AB, with enemy units eventually scared to even poke a desultory head over the parapet!
I passed the baton to Quizno at 2130 GMT with the Paal attack going well, with 2 CP's and the docks under our benevolent control.

The Battle of Antwerp 18-04-06

2006-04-19T11:27:00.000Z

And what a battle it was, raging on for an entire day and a night, both sides refusing to yield. I was initially party to defending the NAB, rushing around on igorsunc's bedford killing HT and 88's in the open expanses north of the city until a meeting at HQ called me away. I rejoined the fight at an MSP just west of the city, managing to exit the truck literally moments before it caught shells from 3 Stugs within about 5 seconds! I made my way to the munitions factory and hooked up with rogue134, taking turns to cap and cover eachother. By the end of our partnership we had liberated 5 depots in the SW corner of the city. We then went our separate ways - I to the SAB.

As I got closer, sapper M1ck was already around the dock area, having taken the Port back, he had manged to kill all the enemy infantry around and recaptured the south army base too but was killed by a bofors next to the railway station as he raced to capture the docks as I was only 1/2 way across the river. I dispatched the bofors and HT and recapped the railway station to kill the AI then made my way to the docks, arriving just as reinforcements from our SAB started to pour back in. The cap of the south docks was vital, since only 2 seconds before it was complete, we lost the North docks, bouncing the naval brigade, though luckily we were able to move another right back in. I took command of the SAB defence but we were not thereatened there again.

Antwerp was secured yet again through grit, determination and skillful leadership from caps and bohratom.

Campaign #29

2006-04-18T13:12:00.000Z

So this campaign ended a few days ago, but with my Easter Holiday my report was postponed. The Axis won another one after a promising start from the Allies. While I didnt play a lot of the end of the campaign, I suspect numbers played a large part again. Campaign #30 has made a bright start...now where did I leave my RG....

BEF OiC 31-3-06

2006-04-01T09:01:00.000Z

I took the reigns at 2200 GMT with Gent under heavy pressure and Zelzate starting to be attacked too. The FB's had to come down so I set about knocking out the Deinze-Oudenaarde FB in order to attack the Gent-Oudenaarde FB. At 2207 we got the former, with the latter falling to allied hands about 30 minutes later. Unfortunatly, we lost the FB just as quickly, even before we had RTB because no-one was willing to guard it. I also set about reorganising our the brigades because 2nd division HQ was too far north, so it was moved to Aalter and 1st Division HQ was on the frontline (and apparently had been all day!), which was moved to Eeeklo.

Thanks to some sterling work by those in Gent, the city was slowly starting to liberate and we got the Zottgem and Lokeren FB's too. Zelzate only ever went down 1 CP or so before a swift recap so and the enemy attack was sapped of its strength and the FB made allied very promptly. With Gent and Zelzate nearly squared away the time was ripe to attack! Selecting Oudenaarde and Lokeren as potential targets we struck. Oudenaarde was a tough nut to crack with all the briagdes down and the battle ranged on while I logged off at 0130 GMT.

Antwerp 23-3-06

2006-03-24T11:39:00.000Z

I was charged by Gpvb to get some paras assembled for a glorious drop on Antwerp. With an elite squad gathered we set off at 2336 GMT. I was to drop on the Walsoorden CP group in the North, with the rest of the team to attack the main town, but three 109's had other plans and we all had to bail over the main city, myself slightly injured. Most of us made it down, no thanks to some enemy aircraft trying to shoot out defenceless bodies in the air! I hit the ground at 2352 just North of the river and headed right for the Kalmthout CP to prevent any spawners disrupting our activities for a while. I then headed south to the Textile Mill and took that. All the while our troops were taking other cp's, including the St Niklaas spawnable.

The Germans were slow to react and I ran west and swam across the river to the Naval Facilities. As I neared the top of the bank I carefully peered over the bank ledge and saw an AI MG pointing right at me and I slunk back down. I traversed the bank until the railway station blocked me off from AI and crawled along behind the platform, mg34 bullets littering the ground around me. I got as close as I could to the railway signal box table and waiting for the mg to reload. As soon as he stopped firing I was up and limping the last 10m to the signal box, making it onto the stairs and into the box just as the mg opened up again. I started the cap, with the mg bullets helplessly littering the walls of the box, capping just after the Germans recapped my previous work at the textile factory.

With the railway under rightful ownership, the pesky AI mg was destroyed and I headed quickly to the docks. Avoiding the AI i slipped into the water and swam around the quay. To my horror a german DD started to slink back into the harbour while I was still floundering in the water. Luckily he didnt see me and I was able to cap the table. Almost as soon as the table was capped he let loose a salvo from his guns, most likely in frustration, but I has quickly slipped out of the dock building and into a now empty AI bunker. As he sailed past I ran to the Antwerp-Terneuzen port and took that too. Now the battle began...

The enemy DD sailed right up to the dock and parked himself there, presumably to cover any recappers. I heard the engines of a tank and a Pz3 slunk into view to the North, carrying 1 EI. He headed right for the Terneuzen port building while the tank maintained a patrol around the town. I let the infantry get comfy at the table before blasting him with my Thomson. I knew that this is the time that it would get tricky, and I was right. They came back, this time with 2 more tanks and more enemy infantry, both to the South. I kept in cover and started to open fire at their infantry when they got close enough. I wasn't able to drop any of them, but I certainly wounded a good few as they scattered for cover like startled rats while their armoured cohort scanned for me. The put MG rounds into a bush nearly 200m away from me, assuming it was safe and unable to see me they pressed on but I fired again, but at more extreme range this time, forcing them prone in the open. I gave them 3 more clips of ammo in this fashion, leaving me quite low on ammo, but just peppering them with bullets to keep them thinking better of a "heroic" assault.

This time they went to cover for longer but suddenly overcome by tiredness I removed my helmet and stood up a little to stretch my legs while in good cover, but in a twist of fate, hit my head on a tree branch and was knocked out cold. When I came to, the Dock was back in enemy hands and our own troops withdrawn. I had a long, cold, tiring trudge back to our lines, narrowly avoiding an embarrasing incident at the (by that time) German town of St. Niklaas!

Defending Breda 20-3-06

2006-03-22T19:31:00.000Z

I arrived in Breda, the home of 3rd Commandos with only 2 CP's down, only 1 of which was spawnable thanks to some good work on their FB. Sadly, the Gilze FB was swiftly blown back and soon the NAB came under heavy pressure. This is where the 22nd Mech made their stand. Defending the NAB, mostly the North side, we knocked out scores of enemy infantry, myself taking often more than 4 enemy with me for every unit lost myself, but it was not enough to stem the tide. Even when pushed back to the very walls of the AB, I was able to sneak out of the door using smoke and grenades to try and keep the North door open to allow the rest of our troops to sally forth. Yet for every enemy sniper on the rooves or smg guarding the MH I killed, two more came in his place - we were onto a loser there!

With nothing left in the AB but an A13 I took it out and knocked out the pz3 blocking one of the doors and made it out and away around the corner, but sadly ran into 2 other enemy tanks in the confines of the town. I was able to knock out 1 38t but the other got me, first killing my driver, then blowing me up, but not before he had lost 1 track to my gunner.

The 22nd fell back to the WAB, where we were able to effectivly defend the AB from the North and the West until the last rifle had gone. I was able to nip out and capture the city CP, defending with my Lee Enfield, taking out scores of enemy that ran across the plaza past the castle until I was overrun. We remained at our OP's near the WAB, holding out in small groups until the enemy, having captured the city, turned their full fury on the brave tommies, dying where they stood, with nothing but their bullets and bravery in lieu of numbers to fight the enemy with.

BEFOiC 18-3-06

2006-03-19T10:15:00.000Z

I joined my 22nd pals to attack Tienen, using infantry at first, then a Vickers tank, taking out a lot of EI since the enemy had no tanks left. I then took the BEF frm z1634 (i think they are the numbers...!) at about 2230 GMT.

I got attacks going to liberate the Zeelands further than we had already in Cromstrijen, which was capped in a matter of 30 minutes or so. Oostmalle came under heavy attack but after a while, the AO was pulled and the town secured. The attack on Diest was ongoing but getting nowhere and with supply low and no OiC I pulled the attack in favour for more incursions into the Zeelands, Haamstede and Brouwershaven, preparing for a big BEF attack on Gilze with ghost11 as OiC.

The attack started well, but the armour refused to wait until the AI was down before blundering in, so we lost a great deal to AI heavy AAA. I lent a hand trying to sap some of the AI, taking out 2 before being tracked down in the open expanse of the AF. Though I had to leave before the attack was completed I had high hopes for its success.

All the time, Lonbows and his men were defending the Geel Bridge river crossing, preventing the Germans repairing the bridge and staunching any possibility of an attack on Grobbendonk coming to fruition.

I logged off at about 0050 GMT, though passing the BEF to no-one since, despite there being at least 3 generals and umpteen colonels who were not engaged in other tasks, no-one stepped up and took charge. Not impressive.

BEF OiC 16-3-06

2006-03-16T00:36:00.000Z

I took the BEF from Skorzeni at 1930 GMT, a diffuclt time indeed. 1st Division was spent having attacked Wuustwetzel and Roosendaal against superior numbers and needed hefty resupply (which Howie622 did a fab job on) and 2nd Division was over a barrel thanks to the trouble with Andenne. We threw around some ideas to convolute Andenne to ArFr possesion but all of them were too time consuming and required bigger numbers than we had available. We resolved that Ciney was a prime target for the BEF troops, using (as per orders) ArFr's northernmost resources (2e Division) to help secure 2nd Division's south flank.

Despite a few ruffled feathers, the attack go off to a flying start, with a slight diversionary attack on Kats too. I got an MSP up north of town, with some ATG and we did a roaring trade, alternating with fox403's MSP to the west, until I was struck down by a suicide plane, who didnt even fire at me! Throughout the attack, the AB was well locked down (enemy armour never got more than about 20m from the AB!) and we capped some depots but as usual had a little trouble getting a foothold. After the loss of my Laffly (my first death this campaign), I grabbed some infantry to lead from the front and show the men how to guard a CP! Notwithstanding some VERY annoying infantry predicition bug incidents, the CP ping pong continued until we got the Rochefort CP and I was able to capture the Feschaux CP, opening the flood gates for the rest of the CPs to be finally capped and held. We took the town in around 1 1/2 hours allowing 2e Division to move up closer to the river. Thanks should go to all the BEF who donned a new suit to kick some ass

I passed BEF OiC to Gpvb at 2245 GMT to take an afk. Sadly my BEF persona died this day too. Having engaged a 38t with a vickers and won (though no kill, the explosion was gratifying in itself), my sapper was killed creeping up tp the Grobbendonk-Schilde FB to place the last 4 charges needed, only 40 metres from glory, leaving in this case, only death.

The Ciney attack is how the allied mentality should work - recognising that though it was an AO in ArFr territory, it was an ALLIED operation (using BEF soldiers and ArFr equipment), to secure the join between the 2 allied armies. Though some soldiers were...apprehensive of swapping armies (funnily enough, mostly those who should know the value of it the most!), the vast majority of the BEF moved south and were fantastic, executing their duty most admirably, most notably K1ng, a valuble new addition to AHC and Quizno, taking time out from her seafaring to drive a "ship of very hilly places" (Laffly) and give maximum support to the attack, as well as fox403 and zeed who MSP'd too.

2nd Infantry Division OiC 14-3-06

2006-03-14T22:47:00.000Z

I logged on by chance at 1900 GMT, right as the map restarted (notwithstanding all the farting around with "arena locked/unlocked/relocked" and "verifying brigade placement") and looking at the map, particularly the axis brigade configuration, my heart was full of hope. There was a big gap near Luxembourg and a huge gap in the middle, North of Charleroi. Andenne was also unoccupied. K1ng was already BEF OiC so I took 2nd ID off his hands and set about moving the division into a position to help ArFr secure our South flank at Andenne. I moved the division up to Tienen (later Jodoigne) and the brigades down as far as Eghezee, admittedly leaving 2nd AB exposed in the North, but still fairly safe from enemy attack. As soon as I moved the division, the enemy placed AO's on Eghezee and shortly after, Tienen (I assume with a view to attack the division, though they gave up very shortly after it was moved to Jodoigne).

Though the attack on Andenne couldn't happen right away with the enemy FB in the way, I saw the danger and got a Bedford out of town right away to the North and back down onto their FB, blowing it right out from under their attack, stopping it in its tracks, while they have 2 CPs, all the enemy tanks around town swiftly dying without the infantry from their MSP's. I ensured that all 2nd ID's FB's had suitable defence and then joined my 22nd comrades at the Eghezee-Andenne FB.

We held the FB against constant attack with an excellent balance of organisation, agression, co-ordination and communication under Pvtpetey's leadership, sapping the enemy of their strength leaving it very weak for any attack we might launch later on.

It was also a success of communcation for the BEF as a whole. I organised as much of 2ID as possible onto 20, moving chatter away from 6 and keeping brigade officers (though there were few!) focused on 2nd ID matters, not the map as a whole. One problem did come with communication with ArFr since they were so hard to get hold of. Perhaps having a liason officer OL that both sides can "use" to work out what the other needs and what each army has that can benefit the other might be useful. I logged off at about 22:30 GMT, feeling that it had been a rather good first 3 1/2 hours of Campaign 29.

Intermission OiC #1

2006-03-13T00:52:00.000Z

Dedication thy name is bionicg. By chance I happened to log on literally seconds after the server was back up and reset into intermission - with only airborne infantry available (paras+some 'regulars' for gliders). With this I grabbed the chance for early success, launching the BEF against Oostmalle. We capped the town easily, myself taking the WAB, though the enemy did attempt to drop a defence force, they were easily cut down before they could do much damage.

Other objectives for intermission are:
Mouzon
Anhee
Tienen
Kats
Andenne
Brouwershaven
Merzig

Campaign #28 Stats

2006-03-13T00:48:00.000Z

BEF Stats:
Sorties:179
Successes:21
RTBs:73
Rescues:3
MIAs:8
KIAs:95
Captures:1
Damages:245
Kills:168
Deaths:97
Kill/Death:1.73

ArFr Stats:
Sorties:36
Successes:2
RTBs:15
Rescues:0
MIAs:1
KIAs:20
Captures:1
Damages:30
Kills:22
Deaths:23
Kill/Death:0.96

End of Campaign #28

2006-03-13T00:43:00.000Z

This campaign has been a mixed one. The new infantry code has been a real downer, though providing very good performances initially, it soon degraded into longer spawn lag times, frequent spawning deaths and far to many instances of warping ei, righteously pumped full of ammo by myself, yet still with enough essential essence to shoot me square in the eyes with their rifle! Command wise I have been a little quieter than last time around. In campaign 27 I was often one of only a handful of hc on at all, but the spread and general presence of AHC this campaign has been far greater, leaving less space for me to perform my reigns of terror. No tiger this time around but plenty of good battles.

BEF OiC 10-3-06

2006-03-10T16:50:00.000Z

I logged on at 1400 GMT with no BEF OiC, so I stepped up to the task. No-one was on channel 6 at all and it took some bullying to get people on. Neuss was already down to everything except 1 CP...this with only low ei ews active and sadly there were also not enough people were on to avert the easily avertable loss of Dormagen. I noticed the AO go on at about 1420 so called for FB defence. No-body replied. more than 8 minutes later the FB's went down...plenty of time to get a defence. I took a DAC to the east bridge, saw EI rebuilding it and the response was still slow. Eventually our units stirred from their slumber and began to defend the town. We repulsed their first assault but getting their FB's down was impossible since none of our units bar infantry could get far out of town, let alone across the rivers. With Dormagen stable for a little while I swapped to Berheim (oic-hughes) to check out the defence there. It was generally held well expect for a few cap-recap incidents on their Kempen spawnable.

Meanwhile Dormagen was coming under the cosh. Our defence appeared to have just buckled and at about 1640 GMT we lost the town, despite my attempts to lead recaps on a few cps with tomsk6 and a few other soldiers. We could cap, but just not hold against such overwhelming numbers. As the South AB filled up with enemy tanks, I had the last laugh, running through sapping 3 enemy tanks and killing some infantry on the way before I was surrounded by an enemy platoon behind the vehicle spawn and callously butchered.

I left OiC to bruscini at 1650 GMT

9-3-06

2006-03-10T08:51:00.000Z

My first task right away was to defend Julich. Enemy units were swarming east of the town, but excellent sapper work forced them round the North and South and though the enemy tried a few Fallschirmjager drops, we only ever dropped 1 depot at a time, which was always quickly recaptured.

I then moved to the Grevenborich attack where things were going well but still needed a kick up the backside. I grabbed a vickers to supress the depot window north side and the infantry started to move up, in for the kill. I flanked my way around to the NE and then E then to the South side of town to cover the AB exits, though that is were I was bombed by a stuka, my crew turned to jelly by the force of a close miss. Swapping to an SMG I made it close to the AB wall, taking out 1 sentry but getting hit by another, though this opened up the whole south wall. I took another SMG and made my way to the North Door. I called for the men close to me to rally around and follow me to the bunker. 1 smoke grenade and I charged. Looking behind me, nobody had followed me but I had no choice but to press on, making it to the murderhole safely, though with bofors HE hot on my heels! I tossed a few grenades into the bunker, killing the inner MH occupant before clearing out the rest of the bunker, dissapointingly only containing 1 GHC in the top floor. I didn't try to cap right away, rather hoping that support would be forthcoming - but it wasnt. My incursion had woken the enemy up and our men couldnt quite make it in. Rocked from left to right by the concussion of enemy bofors and our own grenades, I started a cap, but at 50% an enemy rifle felt lucky and met a sticky end. Assuming that more would be on the way I manned the murderhole, yet further bashed from side to side by the endless bombardment of our grenades hitting the bunker. Finally, sky403 charged into the bunker and I let him start the cap (since he only had a rifle). With the AB capped, the traditional BEF "lets not both covering cp's anymore" attititude set in and we lost 3 cps after the AB, but these were eventially recapped. Still on the murderhole I turned the bunker over to General Swappe for inspection, apologising for the ghastly blood stains on the wall.

The unfortunate order in which the town was capped meant that an enemy counter attack began in earnest against the new 2nd AB town with no supply. I movd up div HQ and drove a morris with 3 ATG off to town, hoping that even that would be enough just to hold them off. With this task done I joined my 22nd mates in 8e Curraiseurs with an M10 for their armour column from Aachen to Bergheim. Sadly the front moved faster than our tanks so we missed the battle, pressing onto the FB to the south and from there onto Koln, where our swift action broke the enemy attack on our FB and served to lock down a lot of the town in the process.

6-3-06

2006-03-07T09:23:00.000Z

Following a sucessful defence of Heerlen, I was tasked to setup an attack of Gelienkirchen from Heinsburg (in my own 2nd AB) by Tomba, BEF OiC. We were to atack from Heerlen, with such staunch defence from our brave defenders there we were sure we could hit them in the back. I took out a beddy with ATG and setup but within 2 minutes I was dead with no soldiers even spawned. I tried again by a different route and was killed again by an enemy soldier who appeared able to throw his grenade nearly 80 metres. I decided that the attack was unviable since I could not even get close and we put all our energies into Krefeld.

As an RG I had a good run from Tomba's MSP as FOO due N of town, allowing me to intercept 1 Pz3h and two infantrymen who were trying to flank out stream of infantry. Sadly, two could play that game and I was eventually flanked and killed by an enemy fireteam, though I took solance from the fact that I tied up a number of their soldiers! I returned to Krefeld as AAA supporting 2 ATG in the forest N of town to try and cover them from infantry, knowing just how scared I am of AAA when an infantryman, I guessed how they would feel! I managed to nail a few EI and even a 232 with my CaMle before I was forced to RTB.

04-03-06

2006-03-05T08:13:00.000Z

Helped capture Eind by grenading the bunker, and helped secure Weert from an enemy moling operation.

Unfortunatly my experience was marred by stupid spawn deaths and ridiculous enemy movement on the screen. Having unloaded a whole clip into an enemy it failed to even wound him and he proceeded to shoot me.

26-2-06

2006-02-26T23:58:00.000Z

First up was an attack on Mol, OiC by Jamm40. Worked like clockwork. I got MSP up, 50 soldiers later we had the town - just like clockwork.

The later was the 22nd squadnight and what a night it was. Attacking here, capping there, charging round on a Morris everywhere! Great fun!

Elsloo Attack 23-2-06

2006-02-23T13:22:00.000Z

Having helped our ArFr in Halleschlag (my only kill with my smg coming on a Bf110 would you believe!) I moved closer to home, into 5th brigade, to attack Elsloo. I took a Matilda and headead out from the FB towards town just as the South CP was capped. I hooked up with Tettie (also a Matilda) and rolled into town on the road. About 2km away, we captured the N cp but just as soon, we lost the sotuh cp, but crucially the town was still contested. I charged down the hill north of the town, killing the AI and eventually in a position to supress the AB. We eventaully capped the town, after the prescribed amont of dilly-dallying around.

I then headed to the FB to prevent a counter attack with a few other tanks. We slaughtered them. The brave but foolish Germans charged at our tanks and were cut down. I was forced to withdraw since I was out of ammo, covered on the way by Smashy in his A13, which had lost its engine. On the way home a foolish 110 attempted to strafe me but he met a sticky end to my Coax MG. The butcher's kill came to 35 kills in all and about 45 damages/forced despawns.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b334/bionicghost/brag1.jpg

Intermission Tienen attack 20-2-06

2006-02-20T18:23:00.000Z

With the intermission conditions leaving a very strange looking map indeed, the German ownership of Brussels was misleading since it was miles away from the victory condition area, with the greys just capping empty towns showing their unwillingness to face the mighty BEF in battle.

Noticing an axis brigade in Tienen wide open for attack I set about an attack in 5th brigade from Jodoigne. Amb was good enough to drive and I took an ATG. We setup SW of town and moved in swiftly, placing the AO just as we setup. Our other ATG and tanks were swiftly into the AB and was quick to dispatch enemy armour and infantry. We capped all the cps in town and I followed and was able to kill some EI along the way before my ATG commander was killed and I rooted to the position. Without my manouverability I was a sitting suck and was shortly overrun. Sadly the infantry in the town was a little green and was reluctant to see the merits of guarding all the CP's after being capped so a few shakey moments ensued as we lost 2 CP's but Schnelli and Spikey gallantly charged into the bunker and captured it, leaving only the Leuven CP, which I capped but a minute later. Giving us the town in only 52 minutes - not half bad for the BEF!! An added bonus was that 2.Fallschirmjaeger of 1. Panzer Division was routed off the map.

Sadly, thanks to some interesting brigade configuration within 2nd Infantry Division, Tienen could not be occupied and the attcking troops, weary from their toil had to make ready for a defence of the town, killing a number of pieces of armour, opels and infantry after an immediate counter attack from Leuven, which now too sported an enemy brigade. I left the town, called back to the Quartermasters's store, in good stead to hold for a little while at least.

Notable mention should go to all the brave soldiers but particularly:
all those who guarded a CP
amb for MSP
Schnelli and Spikey for getting the bunker
Sgtprop, a new member to the 22nd in his first action with us
and torgrim and zach, two very welcome axis visitors

Campaign #27 Stats

2006-02-20T18:20:00.000Z

BEF Stats:
Sorties:136
Successes:10
RTBs:67
Rescues:5
MIAs:2
KIAs:62
Captures:4
Damages:177
Kills:122
Deaths:63
Kill/Death:1.94

ArFr Stats:
Sorties:28
Successes:1
RTBs:6
Rescues:3
MIAs:2
KIAs:17
Captures:4
Damages:38
Kills:23
Deaths:19
Kill/Death:1.21

End of Campaign #27

2006-02-20T18:13:00.000Z

As my first campaign as an AHC officer has ended I'm left with a number of thoughts. As a BEF player there are many times of day (if not all) when I will be left outnumbered, perhaps one of only 2 or 3 AHC online and certainly not with enough troops to defend everywhere that the Germans could attack. That is when the pressure builds up. What is cruical is not to be afraid to make a mistake and that you have to accept that you cannot win every battle, but must choose which ones to fight and which ones to conceed. A lesson learnt from towards the end of the campain with the map going sausage side very quickly we in the 22nd picked out battles and I hope pissed off Jerry while we had our fun. We did not see the top tier this time so it remains to be seen if the new synchronised RDP is effective but though the numbers are less than favourable for us, we will fight on

Final Hurrah!

2006-02-18T09:31:00.000Z

The 22nd mech refused to take rumours of defeat with any credence and pressed on to restore some glory. After a...dubious take off technique accounted for 1 plane and its occupants, we took off again for St Pol, making...interesting evasive manouvres all the way. The plan was to softcap the town in the minimum time by disguising our true strength till the last moment.

We glid in for a perfect landing but the sound of 2 pz4g was a bad omen, but an easily avoidable one. We pressed on but unfortunatly, myself as the leading officer, was the first to get hit. Wounded at first then shot while running to cover, we had run right into a German death squad on the way to pre-camp an FB.
The names of the brave fallen:
Pilot - Spikey
Soldiers -
Bionicg
Zbarsky
Macdelta
Locko
Timus
Calemm (a guest along for the ride)

A last heroic charge of the 22nd this campaign...

Heroic assault on Oostende 17-2-06

2006-02-17T17:47:00.000Z

With the BEF off the continent Lloyd403 was unwilling to allow the situation to remain so. He orchestrated a great battle that ranged for hours keeping the Germans well occupied and at times, hanging on for their wits. Paradrop after paradrop rained from the sky and stern faced Tommies poured in, at one point capturing all CP's but 3 (of those 3 sadly was the final AB we would need to force the enemy back).

For my part I happened to be around Dunkerque-Veurne FB doing a supply cut between Diskmuide on Veurne when I saw the EWS flare up. I drove my Stuart hell for leather up the road and helped to secure the town. Sadly the berms were against me and as I moved from my hard cover in the town, to just outside to the south to kill a Pz4g that had taken up station the ill balanced American contraption fell onto its side and floundered, leaving the PZ unharmed. Undeterred I returned with a Panhard and swept south of the docks killing a 232 and hitting a number of enemy tanks moving in, thought sadly the gun was not quite sufficient to do enough damage. I had to get closer. As I charged a PZ3 hitting it no fewer than 6 times on the back of the turret and the right hand sweetspot from about 200m closing to 80m the commander saw me and swung the turret around, missing with the first shot but crippling my gunner and commander with the second, from only 60m. Using what wits my driver had left I evaded and was able to despawn for a resce having driven round and round the enemy tank in circles.

The battle raged on but my participation had to stop there...

Veurne defence 16-2-06

2006-02-16T11:47:00.000Z

Having blown up the Poperinge FB I proceeded to check Veurne's ews and I was not disappointed. As I padded out east with my RG the et EWS filled up and my view filled with armour as far as the eye could see. After my first sortie the town started to hot up and CP defence was in order as they placed the AO. While we lost 1 CP, it was quickly recaptured with limited damage. Thanks to my...adventurous spirit, I was OiC the defence from the fields E and NE of town, coming up behind the arrogant tanks, 88's and MSP's parked in the open, ravaging them with accurate and deadly rifle fire. By the time I was called back to brigade for a breifing (leaving Bruscini in charge) the town was in good shape and efforts were underway, thought a little belated, against their FB.

At the end of my 3 sorties the butchers bill was:
pz4g - 3
pz4d - 1
pz3 - 2
88 - 1 (plus 1 more despawned)
LMG - 2

Bring on the Tiger...

Stekene defence 9-2-06

2006-02-09T22:57:00.000Z

As usual, I arrived with the Germans already knocking on the door and very close to town and with our defence, without meaning to critcise, running around like headless chickens. I took control and ensured the CP's each had a defender (since ei ews was empty) and headed off to "lead from the front" by inspiration as a Sapper. The enemy tanks were parked alongside the road east of town and were easy kills, of which I bagged 3, including a Field Marshall.

Taking a short break to juggle some other brigades in 2nd Division I returned with the situation a little more dire. I jumped onto K1ng's supply mission and brought up a DAC and was able to knock out 2 enemy MSP an enemy tank and some infantry before I was de-wheeled, thought I kept firing and then eventually overwhelmed by an 88.

I resolved to defend the St Niklaas CP (the spawnable) to the end anlong with a load of other chaps. The city CP was lost and regained a few times, but our defence held. However, the end came rather sooner than I expected with no kills, only 2 damaged for me, thanks to some heavy shelling by an enemy tank. I respawned in with the last rifle in the depot and charged back across the road to the City CP to defend, taking out 3 infantry and an enemy ATG before foolishly grenading myself while trying to kill the city cp's temporary occupants.

Channel crossing 6-2-06

2006-02-07T09:39:00.000Z

Yes, the allies have a new swimming champion and it is Colonel bionicg!! I swam the channel in a time of 13 hours 15 mins, travelling at 0.47 m/s! Leaving Dover at about 11:40, I hit the water under the white cliffs at 11:45, arriving at the French coast just west of Wissant at exactly 0100 GMT, before jogging he 2.5km to Wissant in 12 minutes, paying my respects to the war memorial before staggering to the local cafe for a well deserved beer!

Action 4-2-06

2006-02-05T00:51:00.000Z

Two defences, quite different in character marked todays action. The first, the defence of Aarschot, under 4th brigade but cut off from the rest of second division. The second, the defence of Brussels' Evere Airfield.

The attack on Aarschot came in 2 waves. The first was infantry only and though we only lost 1 CP (just as I logged on), it was recaptured very swiftly. An attempt was made on the FB, leaving it damaged with only 4 charges left to place, but then the FB really hotted up and it became an untenable assault. The second wave was far more impressive. Sappers were making their way after a glider drop NE of the FB and ran into a column of 12 or so tanks heading for the north of town and the same to the south. The northern column, advancing in the open was something to behold indeed. A few enemy units were disabled thanks to some excellent gunnery and the precision bombing of the RAF and the few that did get through to the north were dispatched by well forethought sapper work (in a good perimeter to the north) and by the forsight of Kolbra's a13 which he took 2km n of town to hit the enemy tanks in the back. Meanwhile, the FB was taken down by Spikey, who patiently waited nearby waiting for his chance to strike, pulling the FB from under the axis hordes.

Brussels then came under pressure and though we lost a few cp's initially, we were able to bleed them dry of armour from Leuven so the fell back. I myself was able to take a Matilda and cut the road from the FB, destroying 2 tanks on the way to my ambush spot, 2 in the ambush and a few more, an opel and 2 ATG after redeploying. Thanks to some excellent 2lber work from gpvb covering my back, my matty carried me safely back to base once I had run out of AP rounds.

Boxtel defence and BEF OiC 3-2-06

2006-02-03T16:37:00.000Z

I arrived back from a trip to London (where I had a meeting with Churchill) to find Boxtel in a terrible state. Full EWS was active in town, an enemy AO placed and only 3 men in the entire town, none of whom were in charge until I arrived. Quickly taking charge I asked for reinforcements and they arrived in force just in time as we lost the first CP. I headed to the Veghel CP, their spawnable to defend and soon found a fight on my hands, killing 11 infantrymen including a Major-general before being overrun, though I was able to mortally wound my eventual assailant. The town fell soon after with enemy tanks roaming freely about the townand enemy infantry all over. Lesson learnt - don't wait until bionicg is online to organise a defence.

Tomba was logging off as BEF oic off the back of an 8 hour shift so I took charge at 1500 GMT. I immediatly launched a counter attack on Boxtel with cobalt61 in charge, who did a sterling job for 1 1/2 hours keeping the enemy very busy indeed and set about diversionary measures in Diest. Eersel was the next axis target and eventually fell after an excellent resupply effort forcing me to move the brigade to Arendonk and the division to Turnout. With the Boxtel counter attack bogging down I pulled the AO and the Diest attack was working well as "funtime" becuase there was plenty to do at the FB and in town itself since the enemy had committed most of their armour earlier in the day.

I handed the BEF reigns over to Dffad at about 1630 GMT.

Peer attack 1-2-06

2006-02-01T22:44:00.000Z

I logged on, did an fb bust with my 22nd chums with no hitches and was called upon to OiC an attack on Peer from Leopoldsberg, where the AO had been on a long time but little progress made.

I took the reigns forcefully and with out LAST bedford truck (apparently thanks to a suicide rush of about 10 greentag drivers into the AB earlier on) Infantry started to pour in while I covered the beddy with an LMG. We had plenty of infantry in town and the cp's fell slowly at first until we owned all but one.

Then the Luftwaffe came.

A 110 and 2 109's took turns at gang-strafing the Beddy on the ground and though I got hits on 1 of the 110's with my Bren, our MSP was eventally destroyed. However, we had plenty of men in town and there was still hope since the enemy garrison was down to infantry themselves so I headed into town brandishing my Webley pistol. I made it to 1 CP and covered one of the doors, killing a few EI who tried to enter. Sadly there were few willing to cover tables elsewhere and our infantry, against my advice, died alone, rather than move on and cap the AB together and the tables fell quickly. Seeing we held only 2 tables 1 of which was defended I decided to try and get to the AB. I crept up to an adjoining house and was almost run over by an enemy infantryman who ran right past but didnt see me. I snuck past him and prepared for the 50m dash to the walls. I exited the house and was confronted by an enemy rifleman. I fired 2 shots, into his chest from 15m, just like training and saw him convulse and ducked back inside the doorway. Moments later I heard a shot, which then greivously wounded me despite nominally having a brick wall between us.

The last CP to fall was our spawnable, gallantly defended to the last by Horkesh of the 22nd Mech.

BEF OiC 1-2-06

2006-02-01T14:49:00.000Z

From 1300-1500 the BEF was mine, initially logging on to Valkenswaard in a bad way, I was able to kill an enemy MSP and a number of enemy infantry before their hordes backtracked and overpowered me. Luckily, we were able to capture Eersel in this time, and seeing Valk. was lost, ordered SAS back to aachel and 3rd commandos to defend our new town to maintain at least 1 link to Eindhoven.

Noticing a large enemy tank ews active in Aachel I spawned into a depot to check it out, finding more than 8 enemy tanks east, already under fire I grabbed a 2lber. Pushing it slowly eastwards, I crept to within metres of a number of enemy tanks and opened fire, killing 3 of them from very close range (pz3 and 2 38t) and forcing 4 more back (232, 2x pz3 and a pz2). Other BEF A-T units reported similar successes.

We then began the long process of recapturing a number of towns including Arendonk, Boxtel and Veghel, taking all with very low casualties. The enemy then attacked Peer in force and after brave defence, the already low garrision (previous attacks on Maasiek before I logged on had left it very low) held out for some time before being withdrawn to Leopoldsburg to initiate an immediate counter attack.

In order to press home our advantage in the centre of the map, I set the wheels in motion for a strike against St Truiden and had the currently unmanned ArFr taken over by mingbat, who helped the BEF by moving up 2e division to cover our south flank against the river.

St Truden Attack 26-1-06

2006-01-27T11:05:00.000Z

I was tasked with OiCing the attack on St Truden in 5th brigade. I arranged an armour column from Jodoigne so we had about 12 tanks to supplement the supply in Tienen. The MSP's got into position but not all positions that I thought they were. The East side was left completly uncovered despite my direction. Much of our armour was destroyed very quickly until only my Matilda and a handful of A13 remained, and even I eventually succumbed to an unknown ATG assailant about 100m from town. As an infantryman I kept the attack going and we were capping CP's (at one point all but 1) but crucially, no-one was holding them as a team and they would fall again very quickly, not helped by the fact that no-one was covering ANY of the AB exits. Eventualy we were drained of infantry and had to pull off the attack.

Intermission fun #1

2006-01-24T21:56:00.000Z

So it came to pass that we lost all but 1 of the brigades of 2nd ID. Leuven and Tienen were left undefended so it fell to a unit of the 22nd Mech to hold the town. We spawned in with the intention to go from Tienen to Leuven to defend the latter, but the brigade was moved to Leuven, leaving myself in a Crusader III fellow 22nders Mutley, Sully, Horkesh and Timus, with rookie, grayface, in his first 10 minutes (let alone his first action!).

We waited and sure enough, the AO came on Tienen, a 110 bombed the AB to clear the AI and then, the opel audio began. We lay in wait, opening fire at the last second, trapping the axi hordes in glorious hellfire. After the first wave to the East, we lost the 2 west cp's which I left undefended, not having the men to spread about and I moved my tank south of the town on the hill to scour the countryside of EI. Meanwhile our brave Tommies were holding well in town, I found and slew the enemy MSP, just East of town and a lot of infantry with it. Sadly, after our infantry was overrun shortly after, slain by sheer weight of numbers from another MSP and in 1 case, a faulty grenade. Now alone and with the AB just fallen, I decided to make my ay how with the equipment, since lord knows it would be needed in Leuven. Falling back west, south of town my commander was wounded by a grenade from an ei in a hedge (killing himself with the blast) and blacked out some minutes later I paused to fire my last HE at EI scurrying around their new whorehouses in town and a quick squirt of coax at a determined EI who had chased me for nearly 2.5KM. Continuing on my journey, I noticed a grey shape at about 900m behind me - then it fired at me. Maintaining speed over bumpy ground I returned fire, hitting the assailant on the turret which sent him packing without a scratch to me.

I RTB without incident after this and surely the axis will think twice before attempting to waltz into a town with impunity!
=============================
Team Kills: 24 confirmed, assumed as much as 30-35
Team casualties: 5. S! to the fallen.

Campaign #26 STATS

2006-01-23T09:47:00.000Z

BEF Stats:
Sorties:306
Successes:14
RTBs:137
Rescues:5
MIAs:10
KIAs:154
Captures:4
Damages:290 (Including 6 tiger paws - tracked and despawned in the middle of nowhere
Kills:208 (Including 5 precious tiger pelts)
Deaths:159
Kill/Death:1.31

ArFr Stats:
Sorties:24
Successes:1
RTBs:9
Rescues:0
MIAs:1
KIAs:14
Captures:1
Damages:22
Kills:16
Deaths:14
Kill/Death:1.14

RAF Stats:
Sorties:5
Successes:0
RTBs:2
Rescues:0
MIAs:1
KIAs:2
Captures:0
Damages:6
Kills:2
Deaths:3
Kill/Death:0.67

End of campaign #26

2006-01-23T09:41:00.000Z

So the end of the campaign was brought about while my unit slept in Hastings. The axis 'procured' enough towns to force a victory after overrunning the French factories a few days ago, but were not able to spoil dear old Blighty's soil with their stench. The Empire survives and will be back. As for myself, after oic a number of attacks defences, brigades and even the BEF on occasion I have to say the start of my AHC career is looking promising.

BEF OiC 16-1-06

2006-01-16T19:34:00.000Z

Between 1330-1540 it fell to me to OiC the BEF again. I logged in just before Brussels fell, forcing 2nd AB back to Mechelin, and took command after Salador logged off. The loss of Brussels left the BEF in a precarious position and I was able to cover our northern and southern flanks around Antwerp at great territorial expense, conceding Breda and Etten-Leur to allow 1st Division to move south and 2nd Division south-west in Temse. I launched an immediate counter attack against Brussels, since three axis brigades had stacked up there and despite initial success (capturing 1 AB of 3) we were forced back.
Yes the axis maintained their attack and the manouvre of divisions was complete just after Aalst was captured. At the moment the BEF and ArFr are split down the middle with a great deal of unoccupied territory in between which will hopefully be filled soon.

BEF OiC 15-1-06

2006-01-15T13:54:00.000Z

Berii logged off and I took charge (with a small delay since i was somewhat distracted by 3 tanks, all clearly hell bent on greasing a BEF officer), at about 1130 gmt until 1330 gmt

Maasiek was overrun and I gave the order to abandon the position to Peer at about 1215 gmt. I ordered an immediate counter attack but it fell flat so i later removed the AO.
Hasselt was also under heavy attack from 4 abs, though when I left we held all the core town cps.

Having ran the BEF (as senior BEF officer), OiC Hasselt defence (since no-one else would) AND fought in the field, killing 12 enemy (including a Tiger tank) for the loss of 2 units, at the same time (because we needed every man we could muster) for nearly 2 hours, I was in bad concience forced to leave the BEF leaderless when I logged off since a replacement could not be found.

On the bright side, I killed my first Tiger near Hasselt this morning.

Action 13-1-06

2006-01-13T00:06:00.000Z

Saw action across the map today thanks to the oddities of the brigade spawning. In Eindhoven I daringly raced around the AF in a Vickers light tank keeping enemy infantry off our planes and heavy tanks, also ran into 2 232's. I wasnt able to hit the first one, but the second one I nailed with AP, though I was helped by a Crusader III. All in all, not a bad haul 2 rtbs out of 2 missions, the first with about 15 kills of ei around the AF, mostly to the south, the second with about 5 kills around the south CP while covering its recapture.

After that I partook in a daring blow of the Aarschot-Leuven FB. We hotdropped in at great speed under noise cover of a blenheim and a spitfire along the road on Sres' bedford, with Reichfur in tow as a 2lber and Zbarsky, Def, Burtis, Nuki and myself on the back. I was tasked with the vehicle spawn and blew it with ease before advancing on an AAA gun I noticed in the field north of the FB. Sadly, it noticed Sres and our only casualty was our truck making it a long walk bac to Leuven for the sappers, though on the way, Def and I were able to spot a number of enemy tank positions for our AT gunners in the town.

In game tools

2006-01-13T00:05:00.000Z

Recieved my in game tools today - was able to place my first AO, the order to destroy the North Paal Railways Bridge - destruction is always satisfying!

Defence of Geel 8-9/1/06

2006-01-09T00:59:00.000Z

I spawned into Geel with the ews off, and the supply situation...less than favourable (70 rifles, handful of assorted other infantry and a few tanks) and the attack still getting started with a CrusaderII, with jgray's rifleman in support. We went North of the town and found a great flanking position. I felt we were too far west, so having recieved the all clear from jgray, I moved east. However, on the road coming right at me was a stug g followed by a pz 4g that we had both missed. I quickly backed up and was able to kill the Stug with 1 shot while the Pz4g's shot was obscured by his comrade's flaming carcass, giving me time to withdraw to safety. Now in cover of sorts I saw the P4g, still on the road looking for me the other way. I swung my 2ber turret round and fired at him. The first 2 shots went short but the rest hit home, unfortunatly, the enemy gunner was still alive and he eventually won the battle that ensued, my position given away by my own foolish firing.

Undeterred I set out back to Jgray with an RG to cover him. I never made it back to him. On the way I killed a pz4g trying to flank us north (perhaps the same one as I had previously encoutered!). Before my next victim, a Pz3h was slain, we lost the south cp. At this I decided that it was serious and I took charge of the town, and defacto-rily, 2nd AB. We recapped the CP and I ordered inf back to town and into cps. Paras were dropped over the town, but the cp guards were on the ball (notably Ghost11, who stayed in the city cp to the bitter end and Spikey who downed a number of paras in the AB bunker - when i didnt even realise he was here!) and most were killed soon after landing. Having dispatched said tank number 2 I noticed an ailing stug g with his engine out right in the open, but gun still firing, so made to remove him too. Luckily I noticed the pz3 and the 232 behind him and I survived some time after until an enemy column came down the road. I made to kill a Pz2 at the back of the column with my last RG, I missed since the tank was moving at high speed and was summarily mg'd for my trouble by the 2nd tank of the 5, obviously alert to dangers like myself, had his turret backwards to cover his comrades.

I now stayed in town, directed the defences as we smashed everything the axis threw at us. The ground was littered with 3 towns worth of enemy opels, infantry and armour (16th division HQ AND 2 brigades of that division, incl. 1.Kampfgruppe) and a number of aircraft thanks to some handy aaa work! They never stood a chance against the determined tommies who held their ground and oddly, for an attack with such large resources committed, never once succeeded in flanking us north or south, thanks to alert reporting and communication, excellent atg work and good use of aaa in an anti-infantry capacity. Towards the end of the battle, the enemy made one last push on the south cp but it was held by isbe and excellence, to name but 2. I spawned in at the Grobbendonk cp to lend my weight naded one enemy rifleman but by the the situation was under control. The axis made one last lame blow at us, sending tanks without infantry into the jaws of death, against ATG and did not emerge from the other side. Then, the AO was lifted, we had won. We cleared up the last few embedded tanks, infantry and 88's, while the RAF arrived to chase off the 110 and 109, having been heavily enagaged in the North helping 1st Division.

Geel remains Allied soil for at least one more night...

Promotion

2006-01-07T11:34:00.000Z

I have recieved notification of my promotion to 2nd AB 5th OiC.
Where my flag had 2 2's before, it shall now bear 3.

The Battle of St. Truiden 7-1-06

2006-01-07T00:16:00.000Z

I took over as 2nd AB oic at a time when 2nd ID had been trapped between a rock and a hard place. The axis placed an AO on St Truiden and thanks to a prolongued and frankly epic assault on Hasselt, was almost drained. I immediatly took a beddy and atg to kill the St Truiden-Waremme FB. Unfortunatly, as I arrived, the server was locked, reventing sappers destroying the FB. Before the server resumed, the AB was camped and the town lost. This auto-moved the 5th IB into Hannut with the 2nd AB, leaving Tienen wide open. My first action was to setup a beddy run to the Tienen-St Truden FB, which would have been fine, but on the return trip, I was royally nailed by something very large and very explosive.
With the failure of this, I moved to the Hannut-St Truiden FB, with the rest of the 22nd to try and stem to tide, to no avail. Deciding that the FB was lost, with panzers basically lining up for kills, I took a "fighting recon" to the prospective axis FB in a CrusaderIII. I was able to supress their FB, killing 4 pak36 until I recieved orders from I Corps to organise an armoured column to retake St Truiden. My acting upon these orders was hastenend since my tank was blown up by a stuka while i was RTB.

Creating the column from Boulliet, now home to 2nd AB, a .allied went out and tanks came in slowly at first, but then quicker until 20 tanks had amassed! With such power in my hands, how could we lose? I led the column north, sneaking past the enemy held Hannut-Waremme FB and enemy units attempting to redestroy the Hannut-St Truiden FB. We finally assembled on the northern edge of the forest 4km south of St Truiden. After about 1 hour 40 mins of assembly, I Corps had directed MSP to our location and we all assaulted the SE side of town. Leading the charge, we encountered no resistance until 1.5km from town when an ATG and a Pz4g nearly ruined our day. The pak was deftly dispatched by a vicky and after a little rangefinding I was able to destroy the 4g. This ambush cost us only 3 vehicles tracked (including myself) and none destroyed. With myself unable to follow the action closely, I delegated Memoi to command the tanks close to the action while I provided overwatch with the other 2 disabled tanks. The assault went right to plan with my "right hook" of fast Crusaders working well while the Churchills held up the enemy centre. Eventually, enemy resupply units destroyed my tank, trapped in the open, though this did allow me to alert units in town to their presence.

I dutifully spawned in as an infantryman to try and support the tanks I had left behind and got right up to the bunker walls, (with all the cp's ours, I felt victory close at hand! - 2nd AB's finest hour) hosing a rifleman with smg bullets only to see him take aim and fatally wound me, and only after I despawned appearing dead on the zoom out. The debreif window confirmed my suspicion that I had sucumbed to the nototious "double kill", feeling better that the axis chap I shot probabaly felt aggreived too! With my wounds bad, I was removed to the rear, where I am ashamed to say I blacked out. After I came around, I found myself on a Bedford truck, speeding south to Hannut, with a medic tugging at the Rotary watch on my arm. After some rather terse words with him, he told me that the axis had recovered and regained the town. After all that, we had been defeated. We await the next attack - and no doubt, so do the worms...

First scalp

2006-01-05T17:45:00.000Z

My first scalp of the new year came around Helmond. As a sniper, supporting dropsix's Matilda, I dropped a German sapper running in the open trying to flank us to the north. Between the two of us, we also dispatched a number of other units and spotted many more before we recieved our withdrawl orders.

Aachel-Weert 4-1-06

2006-01-04T17:28:00.000Z

I had done OiC before, but this was my first action of the New Year and while I still have the enthusiasm for this blog, I'd fill it out:

The BEF were all set to attack Weert, I was tasked to lead the FB defence, and as soon as we spawning in, there was MG flying and sapper charges off : the axis were there first! But a swift and decisive counter attack meant that only the infantry spawn was damaged and the FB was not threatened for a long, long while.

Most the other defender/attackers moved off to help Helmond, but i stayed with a few others to keep the defence up and make a good show of it all. Aside from a few Luftwaffles, the scene was quiet. Some tanks attempted to advance upon our fb, but they were dealt with swiftly by a strong flanking perimeter.

My squadmate Excelence reported that the axis had decided to try and resupply Weert from Roemond. The RAF were called upon to dispatch the first wave while a proper solution could be formulated. I was tasked with cutting the road to destroy and slow down the enemy. I drove a morris, carrying 2 infantrymen, deathhorn and 1 other (sorry, forgot name), and 4 ATG, McCotton and thevoid, also of the 22nd Mech, as well as Nautillus and uv057.

I arranged the line from the road, south so that it could screen the right flank of our troops south of Weert. As soon as the northernmost gun was deployed, we got our first audios and things started to get very hot. A HT with 88's burned past on the road, but was dealt with. It seemed that the HT also dropped a bofors, who survived in cover for a while and kept firing, sporadically at targets unknown! As more tanks started to approach the ambush, I realised that McCotton was a little too far south, so while the infantry and ATG nearish the road caused havoc, destroying tanks and HT, forcing others to stop and/or get off the road, I broke cover and raced back to retrieve Mc Cotton, crossing the road only 200m infront of the lead panzer. Meanwhile we lost uv and nautillus, but I made it to mccotton and towed him back to nearer to road. Unfortunatly, as i got into place, a 109 strafed me, killing my driver instantly. Deathhorn was killed bravely attacking a tank and the 109 came back from mccotton. thevoid made a brave last-man stand, taking another tank with him before he was overrun.

Great job all, we really messed up their resupply and held them up for quite some time..and gave the grey a hell of a fright!

The start of my career

2006-01-02T19:43:00.000Z

Having been in game for 5 months, serving with the 22nd Mech, first in 4th Brigade, then in 2nd Armoured Brigade, rising to the rank of Infantry NCO, and finally aquiring the in game rank of Lieutenant, I decided to apply for a commission towards the end of November 2005.

Following the training shakeup over the New Year I was declared ready for assignment and applied to Szyporyn, 2nd A. B. CO, for a position. I also, for my own benefit, read the new training documentation and filled out the new exam (very swotty), though this did clear up the new brigade movement rules, which caused me a bit of headscratching before!