Our first sortie was a complete success as the Germans offered up no resistance.  One forward base was quickly reduced to rubble by our combat engineers.  We moved on to our next target.  Captain Twinky drove our Laffly truck to perimeter of the enemy forward base and I took up an over watch position in my Panhard scout car.  The forward base was quiet and it looked like it was going to be another cakewalk, when suddenly a German Halftrack towing an 88 rolled out of the camouflaged vehicle area.  My machinegun fire ripped through the halftrack and peppered the 88, as more German Infantry and equipment rolled out of the enemy camp.  Fortunately reinforcements arrived as Pyldrvr rolled up in his tank and our Infantry assault team of Etouffee, Easton, Alphie, Bloodless, and Mudhen engaged in a furious firefight with the German defenders.   This time it wasn't going to be easy.

We knocked out several pieces of German Armor and destroyed many Anti Tank Guns and AA Guns.  Our sappers braved withering fire from the defenders to set their charges on the enemy structure.  Finally we were down to our last sapper and just needed one more charge on the Infantry structure to finish the job.  Twinky and Bloodless coordinated with the engineer, and after several tense moments of waiting,  he placed the last satchel that we needed and the forward base was a smoldering wreck.

Two forward bases down, so we decided to head to our Airfield at Cambrai and take out a forward base there.  This one was defended but it had already been under attack by other units.  We quickly took it down but Alphie was wounded badly by a German SMG.  We quickly helped Alphie into a truck, and told the driver to rush back to our base.  There was some confusion about what our driver wanted to do and time was running out as Alphie was bleeding to death in the truck.  Our decision was quickly made for us, when the Germans captured the Airfield and the Army base at Cambrai.  We decided to recapture a key depot that Germans would need very badly if they reestablished their forward base.  We moved on the depot and secured it while Mudhen captured the enemy radio table.   While we were securing the depot there was a message over the radio that the British High Command needed sappers for an FB bust.  We quickly heeded the call and headed up north.

The FB takedown was already in progress when we arrived and we helped finish it off.  As we were waiting to be picked up, we saw tracers to the north of us.  A quick check with our binoculars revealed another enemy forward base not very far off.  We marched over to the forward base and it soon fell. 

We were back at base and getting ready for one last FB run, when an enemy sniper began picking us off one by one. We quickly organized a house to house search for the enemy.  He proved to be an elusive opponent, but Easton finally tracked him down and killed him. 

During the confusion of the sniper attack we met a new recruit by the name of Schmee.  We offered some help to Schmee and he joined us on our FB run.  We were climbing into the truck, when enemy tanks and infantry began attacking the town from the other side of the river.  Suddenly we found ourselves in the position of being the few defenders of a major German attack.  We had no armor in the town and no Anti Tank Guns.   Fortunately the bridge had been destroyed and the enemy tanks could not cross.  We quickly took up defensive positions and held back against the infantry swimming across the river. 

It was getting late and I had to retire, but it was a fun and successful night for (SOL) Navy.  We even ended up with a new recruit, Welcome Schmee! 

Zim