Charleroi AAR

On the 22nd November, mid afternoon, the Battle of Charleroi raged. As per my post in the Barracks, here's my AAR.

"Just logged off as I need a break after that battle. It truly was a battle, too! Wanted to say to all - on both sides - who were there, what a fun, enjoyable fight!

Starting off with an ATG line to the South and South West, the Allies opened with a heavy assault and had capped a few CP's within the opening four to five minutes. Our spawnables, however, remained firmly within Axis control for that period, and in fact for a while into the fight. The Somzee depot fell, giving us a solid line of infantry in town, and the Sambreville depot not long after. The Axis fought back with Armour and Infantry - suppressing our depots and costing us dearly. The NW CP's falling Allied were a great moment, but again the Axis managed to really scare us as they pushed against them with great force. Luckily a last minute scramble saw us hold on. The Docks swapped hands numerous times, as did the Brewery (beer!) and City flags. In the end, we were able to grab the NAB and finally the SCP - after a last minute fight back from the Axis.

It was, from my perspective, a fantastic fight. It lasted about three to three and a half hours, from set up to final cap, and the Axis had just placed an AO on the town as I logged. It was a fierce battle, and at no stage did one side really control the town. The Allies did have supply and numbers on our side, but communication was superb and teamwork brilliant. I must compliment the Axis on the co-ordinated paratrooper defences, their relentless assaults on FBs and the fact up until the final "Allies now own" we were under constant pressure. The Luftwaffe were absolutely amazing, and while our valiant RAF/FAF fought bravely, they were outnumbered hugely.

Well done to everyone (as the French Country CinC, especially to the Allies...heheheh), it was a battle of epic proportions which I thoroughly enjoyed!"

Check it out here!

The Hasselt Salient

The attack on Hasselt Salient was cause for celebration for the Allied side. Division XXO Nobipure wrote a great AAR from his perspective. Thank you to Nobipure for permission to post this AAR.

He wrote, "AAR written from my perspective as Map XO during the breakout around Hasselt.

Prelude:

I logged in today to play a bit on my day off, and as I logged in I noticed there were HC asking to be relieved as Map OIC. Zippo6 quickly stepped up and I offered to XO, Air and Navy following shortly as they logged in. We began in a pretty good position and a quick scan of the map showed that most FB's were Allied in our main areas of concern. The sides were balanced when I logged in, so it looked like the recipe for some intense battles.

Priority one:

There was already an AO on Hasselt, but not a lot going on. 2 of the 3 FB's were Allied, so Zippo decided to make that attack our P1. With links from Genk, Bilzen, and Tongeren, the tough attack seemed possible with good coordination and teamwork. The players were already rallying up to get into town, we just needed to get everyone on the same page and it would take us on to victory. With the help of an Allied squad the last fb (Bilzen-Hasselt) went Allied and the MSP's rolled in to surround the town. Great coordination between the players and HC made the last push on the town very successful, and the Axis started pulling Brigades from the 33rd Inf Div around Waremme up to support, leaving the vital river-front towns around Ramet for the taking. The players responded well by holding the St. Truiden depot and allowing the infantry to move in and overrun the city.

Opportunities taken:

After the fall of Hasselt, major opportunities for the Allies were evident, and Zippo jumped right on the best approach by declaring Paal and Diest the dual Allied P1. 33id was very attrited from the defense of Hasselt, and supported by a Naval brigade they only held out in Paal for about 30 minutes. The liberation of Paal was followed in short order by the liberation of Diest, securing a two-town wide breakout right towards Brussels/Antwerp.

Immediate rewards:

As of this AAR, the Axis northern push has fallen back to stop our advance, breaking all of their recent gains in the North allowing us to capture towns up to Eindhoven and threaten to cutoff the Naval stronghold in Nijmegen. Regardless of how far this breakout pushes, the fact that in a few hours the Allies have nullified several days of hard-fought Northern advances by the Axis will mark this event as a great day of gains for the Allied cause.

Congratulations:

In closing, I wish I had more names to personally thank for making this work out to the degree it has, but as I said this is from my point of view as Map XO, so I was quite busy! The HC filling the roles of the map as listed certainly deserve appreciation, but as always the players getting the job done down in the trenches deserve the most thanks by far! Of particular note was the fact that a lot of people seemed to be taking it upon themselves to do the less than glorifying tasks of fb defense, resupply, MSP driving, etc. without any real direction, they just found a way to help and did it. Very nice!

My personal thanks also goes to catfive, who maintained constant communications with the players and HC during the turning point in Hasselt. He did a fine job in the overall attack but his coordination in the North was fabulous. His special way of 'motivating' the players when things go a little off-cue helped immensly in achieving success in this operation."

Devil 505's Aachen

On the battle of Aachen, Devil 505 wrote: "I logged on at around 19.00 GMT to find the current OIC just leaving and asking for a map oic replacement at which i volunteered little did I know my next 5 hours would be as hectic as they were.

The situation when i took over was that we had lost Maastrict forcing a hole in the line and axis were attempting to push elements of 33rd and 16th inf div through the hole to exploit the breakthrough by pressing on to Aachen Maaseik and Elsloo were also under assault as was Vise.

ARFR 1ere div was located all on the west side of the Meuse south of namur and axis had brigades from 16th ID in Andenne Boulliet and Namur whilst 33rd had its flags in wareeme tongeren boulliet and Maastrict It was initially decided to pin the tail of the axis donkey by AO ing namur to prevent them moving further east with that division and enlarging the gap in the maastrict area.

I had been well briefed by desouzaj whom i had taken over from and my intentions were to pull back the 1ere div to emplace it in nandrin ramet and the profondville area keeping 16th id pinned at namur. then attempting to close off the maastrict gap from vise and elsloo. whilst freeing up units in the S area to allow a possible assault on their weakest line of defence which was beaumont and push through to Mauberge At this point Axis were still moving units into maastrict and had not Ao'd Aachen at this point.

Eventually the situation in maastrict became such that it was inevitable with 3 brigades in maastrict that axis would not try and push further East and they made the decision to AO Aachen. At that point Aachens defence consisted of paras and 3 air units. I outlined the concerns around the key defence points of tha AF and spaawnables needing guards. however due to increasing pressure first the spawnable and then the AF fell effectively dismissing the defending units to training. I had already started moving northern units into a shorter defensive line in the Panningen area freeing up 75% of 12e div from Maaseik and Roermond areas to move south on timers to relocate in aachen if possible of if aachen fell its task was to disrupt axis LOCs and cut off the head of the snake had they pushed through.

The situation deteriorated in Aachen as the timers dragged on however due to some brilliant team play by certain unknown officers and players a 2 pronged attack was formed and we recapped both their only aachen spawnable the FB and the linked depot in maastricht whilst para toopers from Verviers were deployed over aachen It was touch and go as at this point we were down to having no link to allow defensive flags in and all ABs were axis owned , in fact we were at this point down to just one flag in Aachen!. we had by this time completely stopped the flow of axis inf into aachen and i had moved 12e hq and 106e to Geilenkirchen with the 12e armoured unit also in position at heerlen. ready to drop into Aachen we needed the 2 n depots back and the Abs if i was going to be able to move anything in I am pleased to say that the paras arrived from Verviers in an incredibly well and finely cut timing they recapped all abs and the n depots in short order and i was able to move 12e hq and 106e into aachen whilst moving the associated armoured unit 1 town further nw to bolster sittard . the time had flown by i had also managed to get the 1ere into nandrin in time to defend against a soft cap and i had also managed to emplace 1.5 dvis in position to attack Beaumont I handed over map oic to salador at 2359 Z after 5 hours of non stop unit movement safe in the knowlege aachen was secure and we could threaten Maastrict and Mauberge.

Devil505 3 Cdo CO"

Allied Officers Needed!

The Allied Side is in need of new and returning officers now more than ever. There are many positions open within the French and British commanders, in the Armies, Navies or Air Forces. If you are, or think you might be interested, head to the Allied Open Forum post here for more information, or directly to the OCS Application here (using IE) to sign up today!

OCS is a relatively quick course, and you are able to complete the written component before a practical field training to ensure you are ready and able to become an officer. Once it is complete, placement is quick and you can be in game supporting the Allied cause from within the High Command. It's a great experience for those who are yet to try it.

If you have any questions about the HC, pm any one of the Senior Commanders with any questions, or ask HC online about it. So, join the HC today - I look forward to seeing you there.

New Allied CinC, and Senior Commanders

While I was away the Allied High Command CinC Badger77 retired after a very successful 3 wins and Ltibbs was promoted to the CinC position. Subsequently, Joker007 moved to Allied CoS and Igor was promoted to the position of Allied DCoS. We have two new BEF Country Level officers - Silky as BEF CinC and Speed68 as BEF CoS. CE remains French CinC and I remain French CoS.

Ltibbs wrote, "Greetings fellow Allies

I want to take this opportunity to thank Badger77 for a job WELL DONE as CINC these last 3 campaigns.

I look forward to the challenges of this new position and the opportunity to play with all of you as we continue our successes against the Grey Horde ..."

Read the rest in the Allied Open Forums, here!

Tongeren Teeters - before terrific outcome

Well after what was an extended period of time away from WWIIOL I jumped back in the seat tonight and 'got my game on,' to say the least. It was a bit quiet on the Allied side with very few HC online and not a great deal of players. Nonetheless the communications between those online were great and we accomplished a lot!

Tongeren was the first of the night. While Masseik continued throughout (and even as I write this the battle still rages), I jumped into the no-man's-land Tongeren to fight it out with SLR, Nobipure and myself against the onslaught. We had help from Isl... (I can't rememeber the rest of your tag, sorry mate!), and it turned into an epic battle. As the FB fell and depots went Axis we scrambled to re-take the FB, and lucky Isl... was on the ball, because the FB was back Allied in the nick of time. After that, Pacifict's MSP provided a way for SLR, Janus, Pac and myself to enter town, and with a dozen other Allies liberate depot by depot until the AB. With only the AB Allied when we re-entered, it was not expected to re-take, so it was an occasion for celebration when Tongeren was liberated and an Allied Brigade shuffled in. Great work guys!

We then took the fight North to Mook, where MSPs rolled in and the town fell Allied reasonably quickly. There was not a great deal of defence and the Allied attackers - 10 to 20 in all - did a great job capping, guarding and taking the AB and docks simultaneously. There was very limited Axis response despite the fact they held the numbers advantage. Another well executed operation saw us advance further and pull Axis troops out of Masseik - which was still holding!

As I logged for the night, the AO on Wyler had just been placed, the Ramet raids were going strong and Masseik and Panningen were holding out nicely. A great night overall, a fantastic way to return to the game after a break; working together with squaddies, HC and players alike with great communications and a sense of teamwork to accomplish goals and have a tonne of fun. Brilliant work tonight guys!

Allied forces controls most of Germany

(October 31st - From the Front)

(FTF) On the second day of war it is clear that the Axis are on the run, cut in half with their main forces they are fighting for their lives. Wehrmacht decided to go for the Zeelands in the beginning of the campaign and beat their heads against the wall of Antwerp while the Allies encircled Luxembourg and took more and more links in the center and then managed to advance on all fronts bout the north. One thing is sure thou, the Allies have yet to make a mistake this campaign and the Axis alot of thinking to do.

Badger77, Commander in Chief commented on the total failure of the OKW plan to take the Zeelands: " The key to helping this break apart was the players holding north and the guys in the south getting that foothold on Bitburg."

Cornered Rat Jammyman explained his view in The Barracks: " There is One Factor and One Factor alone that helped the Axis win alot durng the first 6 years of the game. British couldn't move through French towns and vise versa for the French moving through the British towns.
Heck, i've seen Orders passed down to hit one country only and drive them back because the two countrys couldn't fight as One Team. those who know me know i have stated for a very long time that when ever this changed in the game that the Allied Team would open a can of Whoop A$$ and that the Axis Team would be fighting for thier lives.
Look at how the game has Changed since the Allied Countrys have been able to move and occupy the same towns. this Change has allowed the Allied side to fight as One Team. this reason alone In My Honest Opinion is what has made the Allied Team a very Feared Foe and has evened up the playing field. so lets all face the Truth, the Axis Team Exploited that flaw in the game mechanics and i was a Guilty of it as was every other Axis Officer. not the equipment, not the tiers, but the inability of the Allied Team to work as a Team and One Unified orgaisation. Period!"

Allied forces Victorious!

(October 27th - From the Front)

(BE) It is now official with the capture of Aachen, Allied forces are Victorious and Campaign 47 the second victory in a row for the Allies. Campaign 48 starts this wednesday 29th after intermission and Team Allies invites you to join their ranks and go for the hat-trick. Read the whole article here.

World at war Gazette Allied Discussion Playskewl thread

Defending with a rifle

Lieutenant Hughie, French Army, reported " I've begun to appreciate the MAS, it is more stable when aimed, unlike the Enfield which sways too much for my liking. Both pack a punch though. This sorties was in defence of Netersheim. When I arrived on the scene it was confusing and frightening, with enemy armour approaching fast and their troops approaching from the north east. I managed to hit a couple of them at some range, and was then directed by my squadmates to two riflemen near my location. I came upon two soldiers in a wooded area firing sporadically on French troops on the town about 300 metres away. I dispached them easily; they were so intent upon their quarry they didn't hear me approach. When I checked them, one was a private, the other a recruit. They had done well to find a good location, but I had prevented them from causing any harm. I swung back to my previous location and killed two more troops, including a sniper, who had inflitrated deeper towards Nettersheim, before returning to the safety of my barracks."

Started Oct 24, 2008 in a French Rifleman from Nettersheim. Ended with 6 kills and 0 captures
AAR Sortie

Allied breakthru to Kerpen

(October 24th - From the Front - Svedala)
(FTF) Yesterday, the Allied forces experienced pressure while loosing thw towns of Metzervisse and Metz but regained confidence and strenght to push on and managed to punch a hole in the german line all the way up to Kerpen, dividing the 6. and 12. Armee and the whole Wehrmacht line of defence in chaos.

French and british forces managed to encircle and trap the whole 2. Panzerdivision in Schleiden with a complete cut off of Wehrmacht supplies. The three Kampfgruppes stood no chance defending their ground and tons of panzers, paks and flaks tried to breakout of their vehicle spawn but the whole Division was soon disbanded after a desperate last stand in the Armybase. British troops continued the fight along the Kerpen route and assaulted Bergheim sending in a tank coulmn on the south approach but was halted just hundred meters from the prize as flaks, panzers and half-tracks was lined up to take the armoured blow.

Allied discussion

Player and Officer of the Week

Badger77, AHC Senior Command announced: " Yes that's right players of weeks. Each week I send up a report for the BE frontpage and there have been some ummmm ... Technical issues - Thanks TopD. So there are a few deserving people who have not had their mention.

16th October
Allied Player of the Week
This week’s Allied Player of the Week is Khbigjoe - KH is always willing to help any element of the game and took his time to help run the most recent all allied squad night and did a good job. he is also often seen running msp's and ATG's out to target so well don KH very well deserved sir.
Allied Officer of the Week
This week’s Allied Officer of the Week is Desouzaj. 'Des' has been getting really involved and doing some tough shifts helping the side keep together and stay on attack. Good comms and a decent understanding of the game has helped him be real asset to us this week and beyond. Thanks very much Des for your efforts much appreciated by many. S!

9th October
Allied Player of the Week
This week’s Allied Player of the Week is potthead. He has recently been seen ingame and getting involved on teamspeak helping the allied side. A good player with a good grasp of the game - Well done potthead.
Allied Officer of the Week
This week’s Allied Officer of the Week is Hiiamben - "Ben" has really been stepping it up with the air war assisting in getting RDP defence and attack going as well as trying to manger the air so all players of all timezones get supply - This week was really tough in making a decision for officer of the week but for concerted efforts over time Ben gets it.
Well done guys and thanks!"

Thread

Paradrop on Turnhout

Bad day to cross a bridge

(Oct 14 - British Air Force)
(RAF) Lance Corporal Jougal reported: " I was lined up using the road into Remich for my 2nd sortie on the Remich Bridge and began my dive from 9k feet. Just after nosing over and getting a closer look at the target I spot a Panzer III turning onto the bridge. I could not believe my luck. Normally I drop both 500lbs bombs at the same time. This time I had to make an exception and dropped one at the end of the bridge and one in the middle. I hit the panzer and was over joyed as I pulled out of the dive for about 2.5 secs. At which time a single round from a AAA hit me in the head killing me instantly. I will never forget the feeling I had when I spotted the tank start to cross the bridge just as I started to dive. I only wish I had it on FRAPS. Semper Fi"
Started Oct 14, 2008 in a Hurricane MkIIc from Bertrix. Ended with 1 kill and 0 captures

AAR Sortie

Defense of Roosendaal

(Oct 15 - BEF)
(BEF) Colour Sergeant Isaristh reported: " When I checked my map I noticed the entire northern half of Roosendal was occupied by the Germans. Roosendal needed help and I answered the call. I spawned a SMG and preceeded out of the barracks. Once I got out of them I was almost spotted by a 232 but got into the rubble before it saw me. As I advacned across the street to the City CP I saw a face looking out of a window at me. I immideatly ducked before the shot could hit me and he missed. I returned fire and got a lucky shot at his head. I went to investgate his position in the rubble when another shot rang out and missed. I saw out of the corner of my eye a enemy Fallschimjager running through a door through the rubble. I followed and let out a burst at his back at witch point he fell dead.

I made my way to the City CP and captured it back from the Germans unchallenged. I preceeded to make my way to Willemstad CP. Along the way I spotted a lone German running on the side of some rubble and shot at him, I saw him fall over and confirmed the kill.
When I reached Willemstad I began to cap, but shortly after a German with a MP40 ran through the door and opened fire. We both shot at each other, and both of us died. Thus the end of my mission. I did my best to defend Roosendal and can only hope my actions helped in some way."
Started Oct 15, 2008 in a British SMG from Roosendaal. Ended with 4 kills and 1 capture

AAR Sortie

Battle for St Vith

With the introduction of TO&Es, the importance of towns as opposed to the importance of brigades has been a long debated topic. It seems to be a generally held belief now, though, that brigades are key to wearing down the enemy's line. When the opportunity arises where a town holds value above brigades, then that town must be something special.

St Vith was that town. The Allied Side took control of St. Vith yesterday and with the capture of this town forced Axis Command to place Brigades in each of the links. As well, with an enormous amount of supply against it, the town served as a major battlefield before the counter-AO had even been placed. One would think that with three towns, and approximately seven brigades 'stacked' against it, that its fall would be imminent. However, with expert skill Allied commanders swapped brigades in and out, ensuring supply was available to troops at all times.

My own game time last night led me to St Vith for what was a battle of epic proportions. The forums today report the battle raged for over fourteen hours - so my insight is only a fraction of that time. With air raid sirens blaring, the Luftwaffe posed a large threat to Allied supply. Their efforts throughout the night need to be mentioned, as they were able to successfully keep the Allied Forces within the confines of the town for most of the battle.

Supply was moved to Wiltz and Allied bombers and fighters responded well, however the sheer number of Luftwaffe pilots made this an unenviable task on the best of days. The ground troops were faring better, and while the game of ping-pong was seemingly played with the Prum depot, overall morale and spirits were high, and the Axis were not able to gain a foothold. This continued long into the night as we fought tooth and nail for St Vith, to keep the Axis forces spread thin on a large front, and to hold onto St Vith with all we had.

It was a battle that made commanders realise towns could still be just as important. An exciting battle, it proved to be popular amongst both sides, who have reported in their forums on the events during their own experience. To all soldiers who fought at St Vith, the Allied High Command thanks you! Well done on a great defence!

Check out the Allied Open forum post here

101st Laffly Race by Mackdaddy6475

This was a laffy race on squad night from Diest to Bilzen. WWIIOnline. Ratzilla sponsered the winner.

101st Laffly Race by Mackdaddy6475

To leap up a mountain?

It’s quite funny how things happen. Only a week or so ago I was posting on my own blog how a private message from Svedala saw me head back to the blog-board and post again. Now, yet again a message from Svedala has prodded me into gear, and now it is my pleasure to be writing my maiden post on the 'From the Allied High Command' News site.

I must admit it’s fairly exciting standing on the verge of a cliff and looking over. Or am I standing at the bottom of a mountain, ready to make the climb? Either way, ahead is both a great leap and a huge journey, whereby this blog will hopefully expand and grow and truly become part of the Allied side. It is only through Svedala’s help that I’ve been able to obtain this start, so a big thank you to him is in order.

Currently I’m looking into video/screen capture software, and editing programs, and am yet to find a suitable option. If you have any suggestions, please comment or PM me with them, so that more exciting news can be brought to you in a variety of mediums. At the same time, I'd like to extend an offer to anyone and everyone who is interested in writing for this blog. If you have an AAR you'd like to see published, along with pictures or a link to a video, drop myself or Svedala a PM via the forums and we'll have a look. Obviously not everything can be published, but we'll try to get some really good material posted here!

As it is rather late, I might call it a night! I look forward to writing for this blog – I hope you look forward to reading it. Now, for the leap of faith; until next time, goodnight!

The Battle of Turnhout

After Action Report
Friday, October 10th
Turnhout, Belgium

2nd Lieutenant Sheizen2
British Expeditionary Force
101st Airborne

“ We miss you, hope all is well, and can’t wait to see you again, your son misses you the most and hopes you’ll bring him home a ‘souvenir’. We love you so much”…
I couldn’t stop reading that last line in the latest letter I received from home, it always gave me the motivation I needed to fight, not to mention my brothers in the 101st. My Heart was pounding and we hadn’t even left the ground yet. Earlier that day, I had lost a few good friends, all of which I had drinks with just the night before.
War is Hell though, that is inescapable. But no amount of training can possibly prepare you for losing friends in the blink of an eye, promising you’re closest friends that they’ll make it home, when you know their life is slipping away. No amount of training could possibly prepare you for that. And it never leaves you. Even if you live through a battle, you die a little inside, knowing how many lives could have been saved. But with great victory, comes great sacrifice, no matter how painful it is.

“Alrighty lads! We can turn this fight around, the drop zone is in sight, get ready!” Shouted the Jumpmaster, the first of the 101st I got to know when I joined up, Seanokil. Regardless of how many sorties I have run with Seanokil, I had already developed a strong relationship with him. He was a good soldier, one of the best.
As we stood up and called out our equipment checks, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet the skies were. No Flak or anything, which meant there was likely a big fight waiting for us on the ground around our target; the Turnhout Army base.
I quickly whispered a prayer for myself and my squad, and before I knew it, the light had turned green and we all started out the door. Upon exiting the door, the prop blast jerked my chute open, and I slowly floated to the ground below me. And as luck would have it, I was falling directly into some rubble of a building that had previously been overlooking the army base.
Being the squads sniper, this was a golden opportunity for me, as I landed in the smoking heap that used to be what looked like a long row of apartments, I quickly detached my chute, lay silent and prone in the rubble, which provided surprisingly excellent concealment in the night, and I took aim into the enemy Army base walls. I looked up to see where the rest of the squad was, and a few men landed behind me, while the rest landed directly in the army base, where I noticed enemy machinegun positions. As my squad mates got closer and closer to the ground I looked down my scope, and with a few steady breaths, fired one shot, immediately killing a German machine gunners, followed by another shot, killing his spotter without giving them a chance to find out what was shooting. That gave the rest of my squad the opportunity they needed to get inside the lightly guarded army base bunker.
After a few bursts of Thompson sub-machine gun fire and a grenade blast or two, I heard Seanokil shout it was safe for me to make my way to the bunker, but as I began to stand up, I noticed Enemy infantry coming from the bases barracks. Needless to say I immediately laid down again, took careful and steady aim on the advancing infantry, fired 3 shots, killing another 3 enemies, one of which was a German officer from their High Command.
Having killed off a small advancing force, now was my opportunity to run for dear life to the bunker. As I entered the bunker, I was greeted by the pleasant presence of 3 other squad mates, and 2 dead German soldiers.
The Bunker was ours, after a day of hard fighting, it was finally ours. But the fight was Far from over. The life of a paratrooper usually includes being surrounded and cut off from any friendly forces, and that’s exactly what happened. Having jumped into the heart of the city and captured the most vital depot to help win the battle, the enemy was well aware of our presence and had no intentions of letting us have it that “Easy”. As soon as I took up a defensive position in the bunker, I spotted enemy infantry crawling in through the bases walls. One enemy rifleman wasn’t even able to get through the wall before I fired a shot directly through his helmet, and I thought… That would be the perfect souvenir for my son, should I live through this.
Another German crawled through a hole in the base wall, I fired, and hit him in the leg, as he slowed down, he limped behind the barracks in the base, that is when I played the waiting game. And being a sniper, I had all the patience in the world, so I waited, and waited, taking only split second glances around me to make sure Gerry wasn’t sneaking in from elsewhere, and eventually the German I had shot earlier came out of hiding, hoping I had been looking somewhere else, he got another Enfield rifle round right through the chest, making him collapse… forever.
That was about when things started getting quiet, when suddenly a shot rang out in a very close proximity, and I recognized the sound of the shot to be a German rifled, and to my great demise a scream closely followed the shot… Seanokil had been shot, and was immediately killed. I knelt over him… Tears formed in my eyes, grabbed his dog tags and vowed that even if it took my own life that I would avenge him.
An explosion blasted smoke and shrapnel all through the bunker. As I snapped back to reality, 3 more explosions followed, one of my squad mates had then joined me in the entry room and waited for the inevitable German counter attack, and as expected a German Officer breached the bunker through the smoke he fired his rifle killing my last squad mate, and as he entered the room I saw him through the thick smoke and fired my Revolver handgun 5 times into him….. He was dead….
It grew quiet again, no footsteps, no gunfire, no explosions… As I sat in that bunker alone I couldn’t help but think about Seanokil, and kept blaming myself for his death. As well as my other squad mate in the bunker with me, if I had only reacted quicker, I could have saved them both… I sat there, in the cold bunker, alone, and cried… So many of my friends have died… And I can’t help but feel responsible for them all….
Suddenly, a rifle fire followed by a scream that sounded like “Scheise!” and a grunt…. Aware of what had suddenly happened I wiped the tears from my eyes, grabbed my revolver and expected another German… The footsteps grew louder and closer, just then someone came sprinting around the corner and I shouted at the top of my lungs, only to find a frightened French soldier. I laughed a bit and said “My god mate, I nearly shot you”.
The Frenchman looked at me with a startled smile and said, “I nearly did the same, there was a German outside the bunker about to sneak in, but he won’t be bothering us”. A large grin engulfed my face as I said “I never thought I’d be so happy to see a frog” The Frenchman looked at me puzzled and shrugged. “Never mind mate, thanks a million though, I owe you my life”. The Frenchman smiled, and walked up the short stair to the observation room, I followed. As we scanned the surroundings, more and more French troops started to arrive.
“ Escuse moi but eh, where are your men Lieutenant”. I lowered my binoculars and said in a quiet voice, “They’re all dead mate… all of them”.
“ Oh my, I’m so sorry, sir. I wasn’t aware” he said apologetically. There was a long pause before a sudden German Rifle broke the silence, and the ricochet was just outside the observation room. Startled, I immediately grabbed my rifle and quickly scanned the surroundings.
“ There! A German sniper in that rubble!” I shouted to everyone in the area, I fired a shot, but missed, and as I aimed for a second shot, the German’s muzzle flashed and my world quickly went black, as I slipped in and out of consciousness I heard Frenchman shouting frantically to kill the sniper, and they did.
Having heard of the enemy sniper being killed, I blacked out completely. My whole life began to flash before my eyes.
My Wife.
My son.
I wished only to see them one last time before I left this world.

I woke up to a Frenchman wearing the ever so familiar red cross on his arm and helmet, as he said “You are very lucky mon ami, someone up there must like you very much”.
“ H-how am….” I started
“ Don’t speak my friend, you’ve had a very close call, your helmet saved your life” said the French medic.
He showed my helmet, which had been dented in do badly that it could no longer be worn properly, the bullet apparently knocked me out, but somehow it failed to pierce my helmet and kill me.
“ Please rest my friend, you are being sent home tomorrow, we’ve spoken with your officers, so just rest now.”

As the French medic walked away, I stared into the morning sky, the orange horizon, the sun making beams through the clouds, and at that moment, I felt like someone was watching over me. Someone had answered my prayers. And as I sat there in the stretcher, staring at the sky, a tear rolled down my cheek, but it wasn’t a sad tear. The following day I was sent back to England from Antwerp, and I got to see my wife and son, and I gave my son just what he wanted. The helmet of the German, and my helmet. And I spent the following week with my wife, and son, every waking hour. I had never been so thankful in my life. And Not a day goes by that I don’t pray for my friends… my brothers.

War Stories archive Combat Stats & Records

From the Front expands

(October 10th - From the Front - Svedala)
(FTF) The From the Front Newspaper will now include a section for the Allied players. We are pleased to announce that the Allied High Command have accepted a cooperation with From the Front and this will be their section from no own, so they can write their own news. The section will be tied to the frontpage for easy navigation within the newspaper.

As for now, From the Front's Svedala and Commander Tomba of the Allied High Command will update this section.