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Defense of the Bridges at Turnhout
by Der Teufel

Today when I signed on it became clear the attack we've been waiting for had finally come. After two weeks of probing attacks, border clashes and skirmishes, the OKW has launched what must be a determined offensive to occupy the low lands of Belgium. There are numerous auto missions being posted for infantry in the towns of Turnhout and Lommel. Both towns are deep behind the front, so I can only assume there have been Axis airdrops in the area. The Airfield at Arendonk was also heavily bombed, it's still listed as a spawn point but no air operations are available so I think the runway is out. It would be fun to hop in a Hurricane and fly West to Lommel and see what's going on, provide some air support, but the only nearby airbase is way South and I don't have time for a long mission.

I decide to grab one of the infantry missions as they are high priority and worth some points. I spawn into the barracks at Lommel as a British Light Infantryman as it's the only loadout available. 1 rifle, 8 clips of ammo, 4 HE grenades and 2 smoke grenades. Several other players appear, including my squad mate Sun Tzu, strange name for a Brit, but who am I to talk, I'm called Der Teufel. After a brief "Hey how are you? What's up?" He grabs an identical load out and we step out of the barracks to look for a ride. The sound of fighting is immediately audible to our East. We hear over the local radio chat that the Axis are concentrated around the Bridges in that direction. No tanks, just light and heavy infantry. Definitely paratroopers.

As several soldiers gather outside the barracks, suddenly a truck appears, followed shortly by the driver walking out of the barracks and into the drivers seat. We all climb into the back, as the truck pulls out of the square I see an R-35 light tank spawn in and begin to follow us. At least we'll have some tank support. The drive should only be a few minutes, the sound of the fighting seems very close now, perhaps just 4 blocks away. Those of us in the back of the truck are discussing what we think our course of action should be when the truck is suddenly raked by machine gun fire. The Germans have set an ambush from a building on the right side of the road. Several players in back are killed, 1 wounded but still ambulatory, the truck quickly rolls to a stop, the driver is dead or wounded. The survivors quickly pile out of the truck bed and run for the cover of the buildings on the left side of the street. The wounded soldier doesn't move fast enough, so he's caught behind the truck, pinned down by heavy fire. His wounds make it impossible for him to run, and the open space between the shelter of the vehicle and the relative safety of the building is a gulf he'd never be able to cross. Before he can make up his mind, the truck suddenly explodes, destroyed by a grenade, and he falls to the ground dead.

The remaining 5 riflemen of the original 10 from the truck are now sheltered in a one story building trying to organize some resistance against the withering fire from across the street. One fellow peeks out the window trying to get a look and takes a machine gun bullet in the head. There are now four of us left, we quickly crouch down and begin returning fire as best we can out the door and windows. We're met with a hail of bullets for every shot our rifles fire. The Germans obviously have an MG42 crew set up across the street and we're trapped in this small room with not much help in sight. During the momentary pauses in shooting we can hear the sound of a battle raging to the East. From the chatter we hear on the radio, the Germans have obviously been successful in taking control of the bridge over the Maas River, now the Allies in the area are trying to muster a counter attack. We can't even find our way out of this room.

As we continue to return fire, Sun begins calling for help over the common band. I'm left to wonder where the R-35 that spawned with us went, perhaps he skirted our battle and moved on to support the troops near the bridge. A grenade explodes just outside our building, slightly wounding the rifleman with the handle Turd. The Germans are assaulting our position. We pop up from behind the windows and take some shots at several soldiers we can see dashing to the left on our side of the street. The fourth player in our dwindling group, Regin, leans out the door to throw a grenade at the approaching enemy and is pummeled by fire from the MG42 across the street. He doesn't die outright, but he doesn't look like he'll be fighting for much longer with that soldier. Suddenly we hear the sound of machine gun fire coming from our right, with a different sound to the German gun. The R-35 has finally arrived, "Sorry guys, we got lost!" The light tank pours fire into the infantry just outside our shelter. The survivors quickly dash for the cover of the building next door to ours. Without much communication, the three of us (Regin's soldier has died of blood loss) decide, now would be a good time to extricate our selves from the building. As the R-35 shifts fire to the HMG across the way, we dash out of our building, to the right, and the cover of our new best friends in the R-35.

The tide of battle, at least on our little street, has turned in our favor. The Germans fire a Panzerfaust at the R-35 but it lands short. We do more crouching than fighting, letting the tank keep the enemy at bay. Sun and I are still gathering our wits and Turd is nursing a bum arm and leg, apparently he's unable to fire his weapon now, and none to pleased about it. "I think the Jerries broke my arm! I can't even grab a grenade." The R-35 and the HMG trade blows, the commander of the tank takes a hit through his viweing slit and the tank eliminates one of the MG42 crew. "Let's back out of here and RTB for reinforcements," I broadcast, "This is not going well." I look around for a safe avenue of retreat, while I'm scanning, something high in the air catches my eye. It's not moving, but the sound I hear is unmistakeable. "STUKA!" I yell, and begin running for a walled garden down the street. I look back to see if anyone's follwing me. Sun has begun to help the R-35 battle the Germans, unaware of or undeterred by the Stuka and Turd is slowly limping away from the tank, having been alerted to the impending dive bomber attack. I'm about 20 yards away, the deafening wail of a Horn of Jericho in my ears, watching Sun crouched behind our tank, firing at some advancing German's down the street. There is a sudden HUGE explosion, just a few feet away from the tank, the R-35 shatters in a rending explosion and a gout of fire. Sun Tzu's soldier vaporizes. Turd is obliterated and my screen goes dark for a second as my chat log says hit:torso, hit:leg, hit:leg, hit:torso

When my vision returns I'm quite surprised to be still standing and looking down the street at what once was an R-35 light tank, but is now just a flaming hulk surrounded by badly damaged and burning buildings. The body of Turd's soldier lies nearby, not quite whole. Sun Tzu and the crew of the R-35 are nowhere to be seen. The HMG has stopped shooting but, over the sound of the flames, I can still hear fighting in the East towards the bridge. I start to walk away from the carnage behind me, but suddenly my soldier stumbles. The screen fades in and out of black, as if I were pulling G's. My soldier is obviously wounded badly. My thought of continuing on to the fighting turns to finding my way back to our barracks and possible medical attention. I didn't really gain any points worth saving, so there wouldn't be any point to staying alive other than a stubborn will to live (and perhaps keep my streak going). My poor infantryman, stumbles around a corner, with the sound of diving Stukas in the distance. He falls to his knees and begins to crawl, no longer able to stand. I maneuver him towards an open doorway hoping to hide out until help can be summoned, the screen fades more frequently, steadily getting darker and darker with every move. As I approach the threshold of the door, the screen goes black and my character slides slowly to the ground, half in and half out of the entry way. Chat Log: British Soldier has died.

A guy can dream can't he?