Location: 8 km south of the village of Ladek Starey
Time: 1645 20 July 2000
< He appears to be a biggish man in Bundeswehr feldwebels uniform, he's holding a H&K G36K over his head
by the barrel and stock but appears to also have a sawn-off weapon of some sort as well a pistol and bayonet and
a few grenades to round it out. His gear is grimy and smoke stained and he looks very tired but is trying to smile
in an evidently friendly way. As the trucks turn up he calls out "Hallo Schlangekonvoi. I am lost.">
Lee watches the German as he approaches the convoy. When he gets within speaking distance, Lee speaks "Hello,
you must be that lost German. I'm Captain Lee, USMC, welcome aboard. I'll let the others introduce themselves.
We're heading south, you're welcome to join us." he waves to the rest of the convoy. "Are you alone?"
Gerhardt's smile becomes more open when he realises he's not going to be shot on sight, "Hauptmann, I thanks
is sad, but my English-speaking is not very good" he cocks his head when you look at him strangely, "Err
. . I am not lucky over my English-speaking?", Gerhardt decides that's the best translation he can do so he
comes closer and slings his weapon, shaking hands with anyone who offers. Turning back to Captain Lee he answers
"My complete unit is dead Hauptmann, Drachenahrung. My unit was that Gebirgspionierbatallion 8, 2 Kompanie,
Panzerjaeger. Which I mean equipment and finding-out-motorcycle has above on the hill . . .Umm . . . said better
is, my gear is on the hill?"
Gerhardt does not salute and like everyone else constantly scans the area when he speaks, he looks to be in his
late thirties and has a chunky, solid build with an open face. He's also a little unsteady on hs feet and appears
to have lost a bit of weight, his stomach growls loud enough to be heard over the engine. The muddy Flecktarn uniform
he wears has fresh feldwebel tabs, new and recently sewn on.
"I have your radio discussions Hauptmann, you followed by Ivan am heard. Is I go receive my equipment? I can
get-it-to-thrash' (he means "he can bring it down", he's got his terms confused) itself but I would like
to set her on your LKWAS, if I permission had."
SSG Ingle alternates between using his sniper rifle's sight as a telescope and sighting his Armbrust in on the
tank, while urging the driver of the truck to move around to the tank's rear.
Keeping his eyes peeled to the countryside and sighting down the Mark-19, Ikeman turns and looks into the vehicle,
he see's the soldier he shot in the leg aiming the rocket launcher out the rear, he calls down "Hey, buddy,
don't even think about lighting that damn thing off in here, you'll cook all of us!!"
Lee makes a mental note of Gerhardt's muddy uniform and what appear to be new sergeant's stripes. He responds to
Gerhardt "We're a mishmash of different units. From what I can tell, no one here is from the same unit. We've
been on the run since the mess at Kalisz. Hurry up and get your gear, we got a tank and some APC's after us. You
can throw it on that truck." he points to Big Bertha.
As soon as Gerhardt loads his equipment on board, Lee climbs back into the truck. "Alright, let's move. South
as previously planned. The more distance between Ivan and us the better."
Gerhardt high tails it back up the ridge and after removing his suprises from Papabär he quickly gets it started
and rides it down the hill to the trucks. He's riding a Grizzly 4x4 all terrain cycle (Papabär) which is pulling
a little trailer loaded up with boxes, pride of place on top of the pile is a spotless flamethrower tied down securely
. It would appear that all up his gear would weigh about half a tonne. The trailer seems to be carrying mainly
explosives and demolitions gear.
"Ich bin zurückgekommen Hauptmann . . . err . . . I am come back Hauptmann." he says a little breathlessly,
"Could someone support the truck above against this dam bitte?" he asks, miming backing the truck up
against a bank. He seems fully prepared to ride the whole lot onto the back of the truck, explosives and all.
1700 meters north of the main group
Time: 1645 20 July 2000
<"NO, I think that is an acceptable plan, and I agree with your comments on them bugging out just because
of us..." Kartz the double, and triple checks his weapons, and follows Whitedog at the prescribed distance,
with his eyes open, his mouth shut, and his ears working.">
Whitedog and Kartz continue to trail the main group, watching with interest as another soldier appears, then returns
to the woodline and returns with a 4 wheeler towing a trailer. They seem to be trying to figure out how to get
it onto one of the duece and a halfs...
Location: 250meters northwest of Ostrzeszow
Time: 1645 20 July 2000
<LTC Star immediately starts formulating a raid plan for after dark.>
Wh...whatcha got in mind LTC Star? I mean, it doesn't seem to fortified if you ask me. We could insert right over
there, past that choke point and round these suckers up....whatcha think?" Smith says, adding his pointless
input while waiting for LTC Star's final decision.
CPT McLeod puts down his binos after scanning the town to the northwest, then looks at his map. According to the
intel report, Ostrzeszow was supposed to be unoccupied...obviously somebody was wrong.