Narrative
“Marta! Marta! What are you doing? hurry up we have little time left”. Frederick turned to his son 14-year-old Max who had so far escaped the draft. Max was a strong boy having honed his muscles through hard labour from the smallest child growing up on the family farm. The farm they were now having to abandon. Their worldly possessions were piled high on a small donkey cart in front of the farmhouse.
“Max, quickly, grab the other shaft, help me pull the cart around to the driveway” Frederick implored his son.
Then again turning towards the house “Marta, Marta, quickly, quickly.”
Marta appeared at the door of the farmhouse her face red, and wet with tears. She was carrying in her hands a large box which appeared heavy but which she was handling with great care.
“I can’t leave mother’s Dresden, it’s all I have left to remember her by” she pleaded.
“Marta we cannot carry any more, choose one, choose your favourite”.
Marta carefully reached into the box and pulled out a small figurine of a ballerina in pink. “I will take her”, she said, “She has always been my favourite, she reminds me of mother and the time we went to the Berlin Opera house, before the war, before the madness. Oh! we had such a marvellous time; I will never forget it; and this figure reminds me of that time and of my mother.”
Frederick, tears welling up in his own eyes despite his hard no-nonsense exterior, said, kindly, “Come now Marta, bring your ballerina, but we must hurry – they will be here soon”.
Marta wrapped the little porcelain figure safely in a cloth and placed it securely on top of the cart.
With a great effort Frederick and Max one on each side of the cart pulled it forward and gaining momentum moved down the gravel track towards the main road. Martha walking behind dejectedly and with trepidation. None of them had the courage or power to turn back to look at the farm they were forced to abandon.
At the end of the track they joined the stream of refugees shuffling West. Their fellow travellers included farmers like themselves, merchants, housewives, the elderly and the young. There were few men of fighting age still out of uniform now.
Within the ranks, however, were soldiers returning from the front, maimed and wounded in mind and body. One pitiful sight was especially poignant. A soldier, one leg missing, was being supported by another with his head completely swathed in bandages. One providing the sight, the other the mobility. Like some strange otherworldly chimera, the symbiotic coupling shuffled West with the rest of the line.
They had travelled perhaps an hour or so when there was a commotion behind them. Glancing rearwards they saw the weary travellers scattering to the sides of the road. A black staff car with pennants flapping tore along the road seemingly oblivious to the people in its way. A motorcycle with sidecar and menacing machine gun in front and behind it a camouflage painted truck with two motorcycles bringing up the rear.
The brave amongst the band shook their fists at the car and its occupants, one shouted “The plunder gets better treatment than the people!”. He was hushed by those around him fearful of the consequences of such talk.
Moments later there was a roar from behind and an even greater cry from the occupants of the road. Frederick turned back and saw a glint in the sky as too menacing aircraft bore down upon the travellers.
“Martha, Max,” he cried, “Into the ditch, quickly!” The family instantly responded to Frederick’s frantic cry and dived for cover. The bullets ripped through those not quick enough to move off the road and those beyond hope who no longer cared for the consequences or perhaps, in some instances, were prepared to risk exposure in order not to interrupt their movement west.
Frederick, Marta and Max their heads buried in the ditch heard a deafening roar of explosions on the road they had just left.
As soon as it had begun the attack was over.
Frederick, Max and finally, Martha, rose from the ditch and surveyed the scene in front of them. The donkey cart was in ruins, burning; the sum total of their possessions reduced to what they now had on their backs.
Martha wailed and shouted ”Meine kleine Ballerina! Meine kleine Ballerina!“. But the cart was too hot with flames to approach. She looked around franticaly then suddenly cried out again, this time with joy. “Meine kleine Ballerina!“ There, at the side of the road, nestled against a tuft of long grass was a small pink porcelain figure of a ballerina. Through some miracle of physics or divine intervention it had survived the explosion.
Martha scooped it up into a hands and clasped it to her bosom. Turning to Frederick she exclaimed. “It is a sign Frederick! It is a sign from God, that he will protect us!“
Frederick put his arms around his wife and said gently “Let us hope so Martha, let us hope so.”
A hundred yards further on they came across the focus of the aerial attack. The wreckage of the car and truck that had passed them earlier. Inside the burning wreckage fragments of ornate panels could be seen oozing a sticky yellow paste flecked with gold. Many of the refugees were trying to tear pieces away but there was little to salvage. “What is it father?“ Max asked.
Frederick answered with a mix of bitterness and sadness. „Its fool‘s gold, Max“, he replied, “its fool‘s gold.“
Turn Report
Weather: Mud in A and B, rest Clear.
Army of Norway: (0 Attacks). Reduced to only 2 Front Line Regiments the survivors move back south and are joined by an SS battalion to form a line at the narrow mountainous neck at the northern tip of Sweden. The long-awaited reinforcements arrive but are sent to Narvik to deter any Amphibious attack.
AGN: (1 attack). Mobile units decide to mass against a Russian stack which can be eliminated or reduced without risking to many German loss. They select 11th Army, an infantry formation with a Guards rocket attachment. Units converge and with air support deliver a DE result from a 4:1 (+1) attack.
AGC; (2 attacks). In the spirit of the Fuhrer’s wishes but for little strategic gain an infantry stack west of the Bug just Southwest of Brest is attacked, again with air support, at 3:1 (+3). This eliminates the stack and allows the west bank to be reclaimed along a 16-mile frontage.
The defenders of Lwow manage to break out of the encirclement, Late September 1944
A far more significant attack is that NW of Lvow. The Soviets have littered the German rear areas with Harassment hits to hinder the attack and a number of intended participants find they cannot reach their trapped comrades and so are diverted north to clear the West bank of the Bug. However, the many units that do reach the Soviet ring around the pocket concentrate to attack a defending Soviet Tank corp. Aided by half strength units from inside the pocket they manage to punch a hole and the trapped units flood out and secure the line outside the ring. A brave SS 6-10*Pzg remains behind to isolate the 2 Mech corps who formed the western edge of the trap and who now find themselves trapped and isolated in turn.
AGS: (1 attack) Barely worthy of mention a 2-1-8 engineering tank forming a supply link for the hook around Galati is eliminated by retreating armour. Four fresh infantry divisions and a rebuilt 12-10 SS pzg enter from the West. They are not strong enough to attack but envelope the rash Soviet corps who ventured as far as Bucharesti.
Axis attempts to stem the Red Army in Romania, late September 1044
Air Combat: The Axis attacks have required some air assistance and they also fly the usual DAS missions covering most of the front line with air support. The Soviet forward fighter force engages many of these stacks and air battles rage across the front lines.
2 Yak 9s (1G), engage a Me109G screen while a P63A, Yak7B, Mig3 (g) take on a Me210c on ground support. Both Axis machines are downed but they take with them the Yak9 and Abort the P63A
Me109Gs escorting a flight of Ju87D are jumped by a pair of Yak109s and the Junkers is eliminated
A pair of Yak9s one a guard with the mighty P47D and a P39Q take on a Ju87R escorted by a Fw190A. Both the Ju87R and the Pe39Q are Aborted
The results of another encounter are: Yak9M, YakDD, (Aborted) vs Fw190A and a Hur 4(T) (Eliminated) vs Ju88A. However 2pt Defensive AA fire Aborts the FW190A
A Yak9B, Pe39Q attempt to bypass a screen of a Fw190A and a Me1090G. The Pe39Q does not survive the manoeuvre.
Combat Report
Attacks = 4 (incl 1 Auto Kill)
Losses:
Soviet = 62
Foreign Contingents = 2
Total = 64
Air = 3
Axis Air = 3
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