WW2 Supers d6: SST 11: Mission Six: Anzio, The Worst has Come

[max_vale]

Approximately 6:45 AM, 16 February, 1944; Town of Borgo Santa Maria, Italy


The desperate fight near the Bridge across the Mussolini Canal between SST 11 and members of the First Special Service Force against some German Panzergrenadiers and a Panzer IV tank continued to rage....

LT Nahum Chisholm, his Talent Power making him appear to move in a literal blur, snapped up and cut loose a pair of 5 shot bursts at the charging German troops and two of them dropped to the ground, never to move again. He dropped back down just as a pair of 7.92mm rounds fired from K-98 rifles zipped right through where he had JUST been a moment ago.....

Next to his C.O., SGT Tom Nado emptied the last 10 rounds out of his powerful Johnson Light Machine Gun, pleased to watch two more of the approaching German troops fall to the ground, never to rise again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wounded Forceman Rifleman fall back to help a stunned SSGT Simard to his feet and trying to fall back even further....

SGT Koda took his last Javelin and he hurled it with all his might at the Panzer IV that was starting to break free of the ice that Paul had 'cast' upon its treads and then a sharp pain hit him right below his knee and he fell to the ground, realizing he has just been shot in the shin*. Nearby, the .30 cal LMG manned by a pair of Forcemen fired a spray of rounds that hit two more German soliders, but not before one of them had hurled a Potato-Masher grenade that exploded with a gory spray of blood and flesh as it landed right between the two gunners....taking them both out.....

On the opposite side of the Half-Track 'Flak Panzer', Luther "Luke" Goodfox took aim at the 5 surviving members of the crew who were arming up and about to enter the fight with his M1 Garand. He fired at his first target and he was quite pleased to see the man pitch to the ground, his weapon flying out of his hands as his body hit the ground and did NOT get back up again. He shifted over to his second target and fired again, hitting again! This time though, his target hit the ground, but it was obvious he was only wounded. Several shots came back his way, one of them hitting a nearby rock with enough force to cause it to splinter and some of those fragments flew over and lanced into Luke's fore-arm with enough force to draw blood and bring forth a hiss of pain, though he could tell it wasn't anything super serious**....

Phil Heuron's hands shook a bit as he connected the wires on the back of the Bazooka that Mark Battaglia was pointing at the now-moving-again Panzer IV tank. He just could NOT seem to ignore the Turret rotating to point DIRECTLY AT THEM when suddenly a small object came slamming into the Tank's Turret with enough force to cause it to stop moving altogether.....

Phil blinked rapidly, shook his head and then quickly connected the wires and slapped the top of Mike/Mark's helmet saying, "GOOD TO GO!" and then dropping to the ground. A moment later, Battaglia fired a rocket that slammed into the back, engine deck of the tank and it exploded with a bright flash of orange and yellow light.

Battaglia whooped in joy and gave a massive grin of victory to Heuron, who grinned back, but then a scene that caused Phil's heart to freeze burst into his field of vision as the two Half-Tracks that had disgorged the troops behind the smoke wall, now came roaring back into action....

The first Half-Track fired its MG34 MG in a spray that put a pair of rounds into Battaglia, dropping him shaking and twitching next to a clutching the ground Phil Heuron***, who had to watch his friend twitch and scream in agony from the wounds.....

The second Half-Track moved towards Chisholm, Nado and Koda's position, its MG starting to swivel towards them as all 3 just silently cursed their fate....

Then with loud BOOMs, a quartet of M10 'Wolverine' Tank Destroyers showed up.....the 76mm shells slamming into both Half-Tracks and turning them into flaming pieces of wreckage....

The remaining German troops quickly started to run away, before being mercilessly gunned down by the MGs on the M10s; with a handful of survivors throwing down their weapons and raising their hands in surrender....

*Koda is Wounded (-1D to all actions until Treated)
**Luke is Grazed (-2 to all actions next turn only...not -2D, just -2)
***Phil was Suppressed....but in a moment it will pass and he can do whatever...he can tell Mike/Mark is SERIOUSLY WOUNDED

OOC: All the Germans nearby are either dead or surrendering....your call on what you'd like to do....

M10 Wolverine Tank Destroyer:

[Rex]

Nahum

Nahum will try and access the situation and start helping treat the wounded.

[kipper]

Phil screams "Medic! Medic!" as he attempt hasty first aid on 'Mike'.

[ateno]

Koda hits the ground to keep away from the tank destroyers fire, trying to put his good leg on top of the wounded one to suppress the bleeding a little bit and will wait it out.

Koda

[jemmus]

Luke Goodfox sprints over to wounded Phil. He places his hands on the bloody wound and his eyes go out of focus.

Heal ability

[Zhym]

Nado reloads, but doesn't fire on the surrendering Germans.

[max_vale]

Approximately 6:45 AM, 16 February through the night of 22 February, 1944; In and around the town of Borgo Santa Maria, Italy

16 February:

The various members of SST 11 rushed to and fro in the aftermath of the German attack; some rushing to help the wounded; others helping to herd German Prisoners towards some of their fellow Forcemen and a couple just doing their best to shake off the shock of the scary assault....

CPL Luther 'Luke' Goodfox heard the cries of his teammate Phil Heuron for a medic and he rushed over to where he was and he immediately saw the badly wounded TSGT Mark/Mike Battaglia and he crouched down and reached out his hands while calling on his Healing Talent Ability. It took a long moment, but then he felt it 'activate' and the worst of the wounds closed over and Battaglia blinked and came too, looking at Heuron's face he said; "What? You look like somebody just ran over your puppy....what is it?", before memory kicked back in and he sheepishly thanks Luke for healing him....

2nd LT Nahum Chisholm did all he could to help out with the wounded Forcemen and he noticed SGT Koda treating his injured leg and he moved to help him out as nearby SGT Tom Nado half sat/half collapsed on a boulder and just let the adrenaline, fear and nerves 'wash away' slowly......

17-19 February:

The next couple of days were a tiring, weary series of artillery duels; rushing out to man positions but watching as German Panzers and even a platoon of 4 of the feared 'Tiger' tanks come along and duel with the 'Wolverine' Tank Destroyers and/or a Battery of powerful 155mm Artillery Howitzers. One of the M10 Tank Destroyers along with one of the 155mm guns were destroyed by the German Armor....but at the cost of 3 Panzer IVs and 2 of the precious Tiger Tanks. Late in the afternoon of the 19th, the Talents saw and 'felt' a strange scene that included an Axis Talent utilizing his Power...

As the Platoon of what had been 4 Tiger Tanks turned to flee after losing 2 of their number (though their deadly 88mm guns HAD taken out a Wolverine as well); one of the Tanks suddenly 'hopped' sideways as a volley of 155mm shells slammed down onto the ground the Tank had been on moments before. Clearly somebody inside the Tank had just manifested their Talent Power as they were inside a tank and NOT part of an Ubermenschen Team....

20-21 February:

About half of the FSSF, including SST 11 were pulled back from the lines and given a short time to relax, refit and catch their breaths.....though there IS still the occasional shell from ol' 'Anzio Annie' to worry about and keep anyone from getting TOO comfortable. Here, closer to the coastal towns of Anzio and Nettuno; the members of SST 11 seen massive numbers of wounded and many bagged bodies of KIA troops from the various U.S. and British DIvisions encircled at Anzio. From many of the rear-service troops and/or from other pulled back troops they learn that the Germans had really thrown the kitchen sink at the Northern End of the Anzio area where the 3rd and 45th Infantry U.S. Army Divisions along with much of the British 1st Infantry Division were and the fight had been a VERY near thing and in fact, the fate of the Allied Army was still very much in the balance....

Then men also learned from General Fredrick himself that the Germans had apparently organized enough Talents to form a Platoon sized unit (about 40 Talents) and had used them to great effect in the early assaults and the Allies threw 3 Talent Teams hastily cobbled together in an effort to stop them, which they did in a Titantic battle on the 19th that took out about half the SS Talents and forced the rest to retreat but at great cost to the 'Bloody Twenty' Allied Talents. Of the 21 Talents assembled from U.S. SSTs 19 and 23 and British STS 17; 12 were KIA and another 5 were WIA; two so badly they had to be immediately evacuated out. The remaining 7 (including 3 WIA) were to be honored at a special ceremony tomorrow on the 22nd at 11 AM and the men of SST 11, along with the higher leadership of the FSSF were to attend as well.

22 February:

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, the men of SST 11 in fresh uniforms (Not formal, but 'new' duty fatigues) assembled with General Fredrick and Colonels Gilday, Adams and Walker at the special ceremony. General Lucas, the VI Corps commander and ranking U.S. General in the Anzio area was there, as were Generals Eagles (45th Division C.O.); Truscott (3rd Division C.O.); adn General Penny (British 1st Division C.O.). The men of SST 11 however had their attention immediately drawn by the 7 Talents who were standing 'front and center'.....

3 of the Talents had obvious injuries including an American with a leg in a Cast and another with bandages wrapped around part of his head and an arm in a sling. A British Talent had a hand in a massive 'mitt' of bandages along with a foot in a 'boot', but he seemed cheerful enough. The 4 men who were non wounded included 3 Americans and a British Corporal. The Americans including a 1st LT with a smoldering look in his dark eyes and a name tag that read O'Riley; a poker-faced SGT named Hill and a totally vacant eyed PFC named Caruso.

A solemn hour and a half went by with various Generals giving speeches about gallantry and sacrifice and honor; a process that ended with General Lucas slowly and deliberately naming every Talent who had been wounded or died during the Anzio campaign thus far. The men of SST 11 couldn't help but note that NONE of the men who had served with them during this time were named......not even Blanc who had been wounded so bad he had to be pulled out of the war. When the General was finished, Frederick's face was tight and Walker not-so-quietly said; "What a disgrace" in anger at their unit's Talents being overlooked....

As the proceeding broke up into personal talks, the men of SST 11 came into contact with the 'Bloody Twenty' survivors. British Corporal Syndey 'Whiplash' Rutherford smiled warmly at them as he introduced himself and he was quite apologetic that 'you chaps seemed to be ahh.....overlooked'. SGT Scott 'Dust Devil' Hill was quite polite them to them as well, though his poker face gave away nothing and he quickly moved to help the '1,000 yard stare' PFC Caruso to leave the room.

The last Talent, 1st LT O'Riley, however stared at the members of SST 11 with blazing fury in his eyes. "Where the hell were YOU CLOWNS on the 19th, huh?" Despite being told about their own missions, O'Riley would hear none of it....he seemed to think they were some kind of 'glamor and no fighting' unit and he was only dragged away, with some difficulty by SGT Hill while a clearly embarrassed Rutherford awkwardly finished up with; "You'll have to excuse him...he lost his entire command in the scrap....ummmm.....nice meeting you and good hunting and all that, eh?"

Later that night, after they returned to their quarters, they were surprised to find General Frederick waiting for them....with some champagne and scotch and glasses. He made sure they knew how much they were appreciated by the Force and he shared drinks with them and talked about those they had lost in action like Hyde-Smythe and Blanc for awhile. He left after awhile, but right before he did, he turned and revealed that he had just learned that Lucas had just been relieved and replaced by General Truscott......which was good news as Truscott was the man responsible for the creation of the Rangers....the unit closest to the Force in any comparison and a well respected, battle-tested leader in the U.S. Army......

The members of SST 11 knew they didn't have much longer until they had to return to the front lines....so they took the time to have as nice, quiet and relaxing a night as possible.....

*OOC: Everyone is healed up and the adventure will get back to military missions shortly, but if anyone wanted to have a 'down time' post....now's the time.

[ateno]

Hearing the train like noise every so often is a feeling of regret and happiness, as if he hears it, its not heading his way.

Koda does not drink much, but tries to keep up in the white man's talk.

Koda will fashion himself 3 more javelins and do his best to find a bath and new uniforms and sew on his patches and if hes lucky, new boots and a couple days to break them in.

Koda

[jemmus]

"FNG" new guy Luke Goodfox didn't expect any honors. But he wondered why the other guys didn't get any public acknowledgement, though the general acknowledged them privately. He thought of the old saying, "There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way." He had his first taste of champagne, and wondered what all the hoopla about the expensive stuff was about. It was good, but not so good as to spend five or even 10 dollars on a bottle.

He had some whiskey (maybe a little too much) and thought back on fight. They'd been lucky to all survive. He wondered how long that luck would last.

[max_vale]

22-28 February, 1944; all around the SE sector of the Anzio pocket and then Borgo Sabatino a.k.a. 'Gusville', Italy


22-27 Feb

The First Special Service Force and by extension, the attached SST 11 Talent Team had become nocturnal. Sleeping during the day, they emerged and patrolled aggressively at night. By contrast, the Germans operated almost exclusively during the day, leaving the Forcemen little choice but to catch what sleep they could during daylight hours and artillery barrages....

28 Feb

The 28th was very quiet; almost no arty barrages to speak of....the members of SST 11; including a freshly returned Battaglia, got the best sleep they'd had in days. Waking up around 2 in the afternoon, a 'breakfast/lunch' was had and not long afterwards, a runner approached them. "General Frederick wants to sees you guys right away in 'Gusville'."

Directions are given and pretty soon, the members of SST 11 approach the town of Borgo Sabatino, near the Coast and 'Bridge Number 2' over the Mussolini Canal. Two weeks ago, a company of Forcemen from 1st Regiment took the town and held it and the Germans never bothered to retake it, like they had Sessano. Now, it serves as 1st Regiment's forward base and is quite obviously a point of honor for them. The boys who captured it held an impromptu 'election' and voted Company Commander Gus Heilman as the mayor the captured hamlet and so, Borgo Sabatino came to be known as 'Gusville'.

A mortar barrage lands nearby as 'Gusville' comes into sight, scattering everyone and doing a bit to drain everyone's reserves of energy (WP numbers on your sheets are where they are because of this)....but it's over fairly quickly and on one is hurt. Continuing the trip into the 'town', a surreal sensation comes over most of the team as many road signs have been posted....things like 'Prostitute Road' and 'Tank Street'. A cluster of mile markers has been posted on one corner reading; 'New York City 4400 miles'; 'Montreal 4200 miles'; 'Los Angeles 6300 miles'; 'Rome 40 miles' and of course, 'Berlin 750 miles'.

Continuing on their way, they come across a pair of men, one in the uniform of a U.S. Solider with a 45th 'Thunderbirds' Division patch on his sleeve drawing on a pad while a non uniformed figure is sitting on an upturned wooden crate with another in front of him holding a typewriter as he pokes away at the keys. As they pass by the two, they can see from the type on the top of the sheet that the civilian is Shalto Watt, a Canadian reporter who works for the Montreal Standard. The soldier's name tag reads 'Mauldin'*, and the sketch on his pad shows a pair of U.S. troops digging a foxhole and one says to the other; "My future is settled Willie....I'm gonna be a Professor on types o' European soils".....

Soon, the runner takes the members of SST 11 to an intact house near the Southern Edge of the Town where General Frederick along with half a dozen other officers are gathered and the General is staring through a pair of binoculars to the South East. Seeing the Talents arrive, the General nods and greets them and passes the Binoculars over to Chisholm pointing out to the SE, saying "Take a gander to the SE about a mile out.....we got about two Companies worth of Germans moving carefully on the far side of the stream.....clearly getting ready for some kind of attack. What we can't tell and are wondering about is what the large objects that take several men to carry are."

The General turns to Koda; "I understand Sergeant that you have an Ability to 'see' beyond what us normal folks can.....can you use that now to see if you can determine what it is they are carrying?"


OOC: Bill Mauldin was a famous WW2 Soldier who wrote a bunch of Comics featuring two Soldiers, Willie and Joe that became beloved by most servicemen in WW2. In RL, in March of 1944 (he did in fact meet FSSF men in Italy in Feb of 1944) he would become a part of the U.S. Military paper known as 'The Stars and Stripes' and he'd become extremely well known and popular in a short time. Here's a link to the comic I described....

Willie&Joe1.pdf

(166.91 KiB) Downloaded 7 times

[ateno]

"Tahr-ni-kook-kut Oo-yoo-ee-nah-tah, Yes, I have rarely used it, perhaps I could go to a high point and ask the eagle for help for seeing, if there is such a place, General.

unfortunately the translators only give out white man phonetics, ᑕᕐᓂᒃᑯᑦ ᐅᔾᔨᕈᓱᖕᓂᖅ is not easy on the eyes.

"I would be happy to try, when and where?"

Koda

[Rex]

Chisholm

"If at all possible Koda, now would be best. I am not sure how much time we have before they start something."

He will study the unknown objects carefully with the binoculars and try to see if he can determine anything.

[ateno]

Chisholm

"If at all possible Koda, now would be best. I am not sure how much time we have before they start something."

"Lets go."

GM, I'm not sure I can use this power with binoculars. Your Call.

Koda

[max_vale]

(I'd say it could work either way.....they are 'guiding' you after all)

[kipper]

Phil squints his eyes at the Germans carrying the unusual items, on the alert but not expecting to see anything.

[jemmus]

Luke Goodfox takes a look at Mauldin's drawing and says with appreciation, "The look like real dogfaces-- no Hollywood!"

In Gusville, he peers at the distant Germans and observes Koda's activation of his power with strong interest. Eagle medicine. Medicine of the most sacred of the animal nations. The one that flies closest to Grandfather.

[ateno]

Koda will climb to the high spot he was directed to and prepare his Spiritual Awareness.

First he will try with his truesight, then the binoculars and as a final try he will put on his night sight goggles to see if it helps, In case the Germans are using something unknown.

Koda

[max_vale]

Approximately 3:30 PM; 28 February, 1944; just south of Borgo Sabatino a.k.a. 'Gusville', Italy


The half dozen Talents of SST 11 are just south of the captured village now known as 'Gusville' along with General Frederick, the overall Commander of the First Special Service Force, Colonel Adams the commander of the 1st Regiment of the FSSF, Major Burhans, the Intel Commander of the Brigade and assorted aides to the above. Frederick had just passed binoculars over to SGT Koda as they had all noted that about a mile away to the South and East, two Companies worth of German troops were moving towards them....

SGT Koda moved to a small rise nearby and he closed his eyes and intoned words he had learned from his people, calling upon the ancestors and the spirits of nature to hear him. He also reached down into his 'well' of Talent Power and activated it and a moment later, he heard words whisper on the wind to him; helping to guide him on where to look with the binoculars he raised to his eyes. He felt as if an unseen hand moved his gaze this way and that....and helped to highlight what would otherwise NOT be visible to him as he took in the German movements.....

Returning to the others, he quickly sketched out what he saw with words and quick etchings in the ground as everyone gathered to take a look....

Gusville1.pdf

(30.73 KiB) Downloaded 11 times

There were 6 understrength platoons of Germans moving towards Bridge Number 1 that spanned the Mussolini Canal, south of Gusville. 4 of these Platoons (perhaps 100-120 troops) were headed on that path, with a lead platoon carrying long ladders, that could be used to scale the steep walls of the canal to help troops over in case the Bridge was destroyed and to help a lot of troops cross at once as the Bridge was rather narrow. The 3 Platoons behind them were standard German Infantry troops...

The other problem was the last 2 German Infantry Platoons (about 60-70-ish troops total) that were in between the 'Assault Force' and Gusville (and thus the FSSF). At this rate, they'd get to the Canal bank VERY soon. Frederick wasted no time as he whirled and first told Colonel Adams; "Get across Bridge number 2 to the North and get the rest of 1st Regiment across the Canal near Bridge number 1 ASAP!" "Yessir!" replied Adams as he and his aides moved quickly....

Frederick then turned to Captain Gus Heilman, who's Company had taken and was holding 'Gusville' and he said; "Okay Gus, get all three mortars of your Company together and send them and one of your Platoons to set up a Defensive line just behind the bridge crossing the stream to the South along the Borgo Sabatino Road. Make sure you get an Observer and a Radioman in each of your other platoons; you can use Watsky here-", he motions to one of his aides who had a mobile radio; "-to help and so they can talk to the Mortar group to bring some heat down on Jerry's heads. Take your other two platoons and Chisholm's Talents here-", he nods to SST 11 and go hit them hard and fast. If they stop and start to form up to respond in force, fall back towards the town. I'm going to get in touch with Corps HQ and see about getting some of those big 155mm Arty Batteries to help us out. Good luck and good hunting!", he says decisively as he quickly shakes Heilman and Chisholm's hands and runs purposefully back towards Gusville to go do what he can to help as fast as possible.

Heilman gives his Platoon Leaders their orders and then turns to Chisholm; "Well....not much cover beyond a few buildings here and there....so I'm thinking we spread out and try to hit them along the stream line.....getting to within a hundred and fifty yards or so and then using the Johnson LMGs, rifle fire and the mortars as best we can.....thoughts?"

*I sincerely HOPE the PDF is readable to you guys....please let me know if you have questions/concerns.

This is gonna seem like a HUGE fight; but don't worry...your part in it will be much more managaeable....you have some freedom as to where/how you want to engage....i.e. try to circle around the screening German Infantry and hit the leading Engineers with the ladders; or whatever else you might think of....

[jemmus]

Luke Goodfox observed Sgt. Koda commune with the Grandfather and his helpers, far from both of their homes. There was no medicine man at home who could do that. The closest would have been Rev. Charlie Two Dogs, the preacher at the church. Luke had always looked up to him. And now that he was a trained and working "Talent," he wondered about Reverend Two Dogs. The man had kind of the same look in his eyes....

He stayed quiet and listened closely as the officers spoke. When the directions to deploy were given, he scanned the river bank and picked his spot. A place where he could stay concealed. And then another couple of places on the other side of the river. Where he could "jump" to, and lay fire and cause confusion and havoc among the engineers with the ladders. And maybe the regular soldats behind them. And hopefully, not get turned into sausage by friendly 155mms.

[Rex]

Chisholm

"Sounds like a plan."

He turns to the rest of the squad, "Spread out and try to stay to cover. When the time comes, hit them hard."

He moves heads for the stream, looking for some cover and a place he can get some observation from.