The Bunker Busters

What proceeds is the second engagement in a larger flow-chart narrative where every strategic outcome of the forces involved will impact future battles. This will create a world within each battle that will impact the ways in which miniatures are utilized. Join me for this cinematic and emotionally charged experience. 

D Company hadn't been in France even a week and was already being served up shit missions. To make matters worse, battalion was handing down orders to a unit that still had half its men strewn about Normandy. Nobody in the 101st had hit their targets.

Capt. Morrisey gives 2nd Platoon's Lt. Jack Kemp their marching orders.

"Just got off the horn with the old man. Got a job for your a 2nd Platoon. Prisoner grab."

Jack Kemp nods like a good soldier. But shit, he's only 24 years old. He should be out chasing girls and drinking sudz at Fitz's on 8th. Instead, he's already jumped out of a half burning C-47 into Nazi occupied France, landed in a farmhouse stinking to high heaven, and survived two kraut ambushes. 

"The British have acquired credible intelligence that indicate a kraut CP about 10 clicks east of our position. We think they're directing some of the artillery our landing forces are facing. The job is simple: battalion wants us to grab an officer so we can get a read on those gun positions," says Morrisey.

"Sir, I've got about eight good men in my platoon right now," manages Kemp. 

"No one is operating at-strength Lieutenant. I had 200 men back in England. I'm working with a quarter of that number right now. Get it done."

"Copy that, sir."

Kemp wasn't wrong. Just about half of Sgt. Ostrovski's squad was accounted for and Sgt. Bluffton was only able to make it out of his plane with three of his men before AA ripped the transport apart. And forget about heavy weapons. 2nd Platoon's BAR man was face down in a marsh and Pvt. Tangolopis ditched the LMG somewhere that was NOT his dropzone. Needless to say, Sgt. Ostrovski was not happy with the young Greek from Rhode Island. 

Kemp corrals his tired paratroopers.

"We're moving out. Prisoner snatch from a kraut CP nearby courtesy of our British friends." Kemp isn't wasting time. Faster they get moving, faster they do the job, faster they get home. 

"Those blimey fucks. The Captain knows we're it, right L.T.?" asks Ostrovski.

"Yes. Sergeant. But seeing as we're the lucky group of bastards to have actually found our way to the company CP, this missions lies with us. Now, let's get a move on."

Kemp and the men hoof it six or so miles to the supposed location of the German CP and hold up amongst the tree line. The sun is beginning to set and Kemp decides the prisoner grab will be easier under the cover of darkness. 

"Looks like three krauts patrolling outside, Lt. MGs up top. Shit, they got a half track covering their rear," spots Sgt. Bluffton

Because they are approaching from the west, Kemp deduces that it would be best to have Sgt. Bluffton and his squad swing around north of the CP to try to enter the bunker from the east. The German's CO likely isn't patrolling the grounds, so Kemp and Sgt. Ostrovski's squad will provide a base of fire from the west and draw out the Germans, while Sgt. Bluffton enters the bunker to "hopefully" capture the right German. 

"You get the opportunity to take additional prisoners, do it. If things go tits up, we get out. Wherever you are...pull out," orders Kemp to his squad leaders. 

So far, so good. Sgt. Bluffton on the left takes his men directly north of the CP while Sgt. Ostrovski, Lt. Kemp, and the rest of the men move west of the CP.

The patrolling soldats have no reason to be concerned about an American presence just yet. One guard moves east, clearing the way for Sgt. Bluffton and his men to move unobserved. Another guard turns and walks in the general direction of Kemp and Ostrovski,, but then turn around. The dense forest and the darkness provide perfect cover for the mobile Americans. Stealth is the name of the game. Kemp, Ostrovski, and the men advance forward and take cover in the treeline.

"I got a Kraut in my crosshairs, Lt," whispers Pvt. Dubrois.

"Haney, Dubrois. Grab me that Kraut," orders Ostrovski.

Privates Haney and Dubrois advance cautiously on the unsuspecting soldat. Gunshots would signal the rest of the Germans. A silent kill would leave a body for discovery. They needed to take the soldat with them.

"Raise your sauerkraut eatin' hands real slowly," warns Pvt. Haney

The frightened German soldier quickly raises his hands in surrender. Six weeks of training in Dusseldorf didn't prepare him for this! Pvt. Dubrois escorts the newly minted prisoner of war back to the platoon's insertion point while Pvt. Haney rejoins Kemp, Ostrovski, and Pvt. Tangolopis. 

Meanwhile, Sgt. Bluffton and his squad have swung around north of the CP. Bluffton hears footsteps near his unit.

"Flash!" calls out a nervous paratrooper.

"Thunder. And keep it down," responds Bluffton. 

Out of the woods steps three All Americans from the 82nd who have clearly overshot their landing zone. 

"Shit, this ain't the Dodgers game," quips Pvt. Blum of the lost 82nd.

"You boys stumbled in at the right time. Stack up on us. Target's in the bunker," orders Bluffton.

The lost troopers of the 82nd have no choice but to comply and advance forward, giving Bluffton and his men the fire support they need to quickly readjust their strategy and advance to the north wall of the bunker. Their rush to the wall generates little noise, though no Germans seem to notice their movement.

"Hold here while I check the corner," orders Sgt. Bluffton.

Meanwhile, Lt. Kemp and Ostrovski's squad contemplate their next move. A soldat has stumbled across their line of sight, but he is unaware of the Americans in his sector or the disappearance of his comrade. The Americans also notice a second MG next covering the rear of the bunker, alongside the halftrack whose operator seems to be inspecting its mounted anti-tank gun. 

"Permission to grab the kraut, sir?" asks an eager Pvt. Haney. The soldat is completely vulnerable to a rear attack. 

It looks tough. The machine gun team is focused on their 12 o'clock. The half track operator is busy fiddling with his weaponry.

Before Lt. Kemp can respond, Haney dashes out to the German and presses his Thompson into his back. 

"Make a move and I paint that half track with your stomach."

What Haney doesn't know is the soldat is Ludwig Gertler, son of Heinz Gertler, Frankfurt's most highly decorated veteran of the Great War. The elder Gertler passed down all he learned from his time in the trenches to his son, who now reacts calmly to Haney's bravado. Gertler quickly turns around, using the barrel of his rifle to knock away the Thomspon and pulls the trigger on the surprised Haney. 

"Nein"

Haney falls, the soldat's gunshot signaling to his comrades that something is afoot. 

Pvt. Tangolopis yells in anger "Die you bastard!" and fires a shot at the soldat. The shot goes wide, Tango's aim adversely impacted by his raw emotion. Ostrovski grabs Tango by the shoulder.

"Get yourself together, Tango!"

All of the commotion has alerted the nearby German machine gun team who turn from their nest towards the action. He spots Ostrovski and Tago in the brush and opens up with his buzzsaw.

"Goodnight Amerikanisch"

"Ostrovski! Stay down!" yells Lt. Kemp

Rage overcomes Lt. Kemp upon witnessing the deaths of Sgt. Ostrovski and Pvt. Tangolopis. Dick Ostrovski was one of his best NCOs and Tango was a popular man amongst the rest of the company. 

Kemp sees an opening and fires sporadically at the MG team to no avail.

On the other side of the map, Sgt. Bluffton and his squad are aware that shots have been fired, but are held up by a wandering German who has stumbled into the woods nearby to take a leak. The soldat has prioritized bladder relief over genuine concern for his comrades.

"Jaaa..."

At this point, the German CO is well aware of the American assault and raises the alarm. Understanding the consequences of his own capture, he orders his men out of the bunker and into combat. The half track operator also mobilizes and revs the engine. 

"Schnell! Schnell!"

Recognizing the entire German garrison has mobilized and is headed his way, Lt. Kemp falls back towards Pvt. Dubrois and the prisoner at the insertion point. In his mind, one prisoner will have to suffice, even if he's just a lowly grunt. His platoon has suffered casualties and if they continue on this way, there may be no 2nd Platoon left. 

But the Germans aren't letting the American officer escape so easily. The half track, now in pursuit of Kemp, stops and takes aim with its AT gun. Kemp hears the loud whistle of the German Pak 36, but it misses wide, shattering a group of trees to Kemp's right. 

"A bit overkill, no?," Kemp thinks to himself. 

A German MG team rushes up to the now parked half track. The same team that tore Ostrovski and Tango to bits now takes aim at a fleeing Kemp. The muzzle flash from the MG illuminates the gunner, showing a sly smile on his face as he sees his target go down.

Lt. Jack Kemp 1920-1944

En route to rescue their comrade.

Pvt. Dubrois has time to escape with his prisoner before the garrison can reach them.

Pvt. Dubrois doesn't realize that his CO has been gunned down, but he most certainly recognizes the sound of an approaching Hanomag.

"Fuck this, we're out of here," says Dubrois, pressing his M1 Garand into the German prisoner. 

Sgt. Bluffton and his men hear the explosion of German shells and the intense firing of automatic weaponry, also unaware of the fate that has come to their brothers-in-arms on the other side of the map. 

"Things gone tits up, Sarge?" asks Pvt. Lowe

Bluffton nods, but points at the German still relieving himself in the woods ahead. The men know what to do.

"Put little Willy down and come with us," orders Bluffton. 

The German CO witnesses another man under his command be whisked off to an unknown fate. 

In the end, Sgt. Bluffton and his squad are able to capture the soldat, who has become affectionately known as "Willy" to his captors, and escape off the map. The lost paratroopers of the 82nd were also returned to their unit to fight another day.

Lt. Kemp, Sgt. Ostrovski, Privates Haney and Tangolopis were posthumously decorated for their actions during the mission. Although the paratroopers were unable to capture the CO of the command post, the intel gathered from the two prisoners of war will provide sufficient strategic value to future operations. 

Upon their return, Sgt. Bluffton and his squad find a few of their buddies have made their way safely to the D Company's bivouac. Their faces are a welcome sight as the horror of friends lost begins to set in. 

Rules: Black Ops by Osprey (Solo)

Miniatures: Warlord Games 28mm