Tyler vs. Monty Narrative AAR

[kinetic]

Tyler and I will be staging a rematch, with me as the Axis, and with FOW on. However, we are going to try something a bit different this time. We will give an account/screenshots of the action, but in each report, we are going to try to do a narrative battle. I read alot of Clancy/Robinson/Brown/Buff/Griffin and want to try my hand at very small battle short stories, from a unit/ship perspective. I will most likely be terrible at it, but I think Tyler will do much better.

In that vein, if someone reading this wants to take a shot at it, and/or has a special interest in some facet of WWII (i.e. Subs, armor tactics, air warfare) please feel free to let us know. We can provide you with a suitable battle that happens within our game for you to write a narrative for.

I have seen alot of great writers in the AAR's, so give it a shot.

[RTDouglas]

This should be alot of fun and expect a much more pitched battle this time! This will be a long running AAR, as both Monty and I have lives outside which we simply have no choice but to live[8D] but stick with us and you are sure to see a great game unfold. I think it would be great if we had some feedback this match. Our last AAR was spookily void of almost ANY comments or opinions.

Lets Roll!

[wobbly]

Fear not gentlemen. As an old hand at writing the AARs you think no-one is out there and you are talking to yourselves, then you try a mad gambit and they all come out of the woodwork.

Signed

Termite

[kinetic]

Germany Sp 40

Netherlands is taken by 5 Inf, 2 Arty, and 1 AA with no loses.

1 TAC dmgs the West France Arty.

West France is rolled over by 7 Arm with BB support. No loses.

1 BB and 1 DD damage the Dutch DD in the North Sea. The German DD is damaged.

Sardinia is heavily reinforced by an Arty, an AA, and a Ftr. The lose of the Transport to do this is inevitable.

Minor skirmishes in Etheopia, no loses.

1 Sub moves to the North Atlantic and dmgs 1 Transport, then makes port in Brest.

2 Subs transit the Scottish Sea, surviving the CAG Op-fire, and make port in Brest. (this will be the subject of my narrative).

[kinetic]

Japan Sp 40

No attacks. Just moving men and equipment around.

[kinetic]

(ok, here goes... 2 subs left West Germany, and survived Op-fire from the CAG in the Scottish Sea.)

U-47 slid effortlessl through the Scottish Sea. Gunther was quite surprised by the weather. It had been, until tonight, overcast, with rough seas. Typical for so far North in April. But early this evening, the moon had broken through the clouds, and the seas had become freakishly calm. Gunther did not care for the moon, he was under stict orders NOT to hunt, but rather make it to port in Brest.
Brest was in French hands at the monemt, but the successes of the Wehrmacht on land were so pronounced, that Donitz had order U-46, and U-47 onward to Brest, fully expecting it to be taken in short order. From there, the 2 U-Boats would have easier access to the convoys of the mid-Atlantic.
Gunther would have much prefered to hunt military vessels. He still tingled with pride, and fear, when he thought of his recent foray into Scapa Flow, sinking the Royal Oak in the until-recently thought impregnable port. He had had his chance tonight to fire on a group of destroyers that had appeared as the U-47 was recharging his batteries. But, orders were orders, and Donitz wanted the easy kills of the merchant ships, hoping to do in this war what the Germans had come so close to in the last... starving England. So, the little Type VII boat had hugged the bottom, rigged for silent running, as the destroyers churned overhead.
Now, Gunther was desperately trying to fully recharge the U-47's batteries. The destoyers were an unwelcomed delay. But, they were making good time in the mostly calm sea, and Gunther was rotating men from below to get fresh air.
"Aircraft bearing 30 degrees sir!" the XO shouted! "Mein Gott" thought Gunther. "All ahead flank, crash dive!" ordered Gunther, and the orders were quickly relayed. The aircraft was lining up on the sub now, and it was plain to see it was a Swordfish. The Swordfish would definately get in 1, maybe 2 passes before the U-47 could secure her diesels and slip beneath the waves. "Fire at will" Gunther ordered the 20mm gunners on the afterdeck. The Swordfish would not be detered, and machine gun rounds began exploding in the water, reaching out for the U-47.
Gunther reflexively ducked, pulling his XO down with him. There was a scream, the sounds of bullets on the hull, and then the Swordfish roared overhead. Gunther looked to where the scream had come from, and noticed a young seaman who had been servicing the bow 88mm deck gun holding his shoulder. There was not much blood - good - the man had been either grazed or hit by a shell fragment. A direct hit from the Swordfishs guns would have taken the man's arm off!
"Get that wounded man below!" Gunther wheeled to watch the Swordfish's departure. "He has a torpedo XO, he must be looking for our surface raiders... good for us". The XO forced a weak smile. Gunther spent the next moments overseeing the diving of the boat, expecting another machine gunning pass soon. "Sir, I think he means to torpedo us!" the XO said. Gunther grabed his binoculars, focused on the Swordfish, and, sure enough it was not headed straight for the U-47, but leading it!
"Optimistic Englishman don't you think, XO?". Both men were nervously grinning, as the Swordfishes torpedo released and plunged into the sea. Gunther could easily aviod it, by ordering the rudder full to port or starboard. The little 750 ton boat would turn on a German Mark. But, this would risk heeling the deck over so radically that Gunther may have lost a man overboard. "Right 10 degree rudder" ordered Gunther, more calmly than he felt. "Get everyone below XO". The electric motors kicked on as the diesels went silent.
It seemed like eternity before the U-47 started slipping under the waves, and, before the wake of the torpedo could be seen. The Swordfish was circling for another pass, having dropped a flare. The bow however was quickly awash, and Gunther took his last look at the white wake of the torpedo. It had only missed by 30 yards. "Optimistic Englishman indeed!".

It would be another day spent underwater, without a full battery, listening to the distant destroyers looking for the U-47 near the flare. Gunther knew from radio interecpts that the U-46 was successfully past the dangerous Scottish Sea, and on the way to Brest. Hopefully the U-47 would be too.