Post by crazydima on Oct 17, 2006 11:43:33 GMT -5
Brian Sasha and I arrived at the site around 1:00 PM on Friday and went directly to registration and in just a few moments we were good
to go.
We were shown to our spot and we began to set up our tent. It was windy and we all almost went for a ride when the wind caught the tent and it flew around. After some choice Russian words the tent was up and we had a home. So we began furnishing our home. The next thing we know the Polish Lancers arrive and begin to set up their camp about 30 feet from our camp. This made us a bit nervous knowing the Poles propensity towards unsafe behavior.
As the afternoon rolled around more and more of our merry band
arrived and the fun was non stop.
At 8:00 PM Toli and I went to the officers call to get our
assignments and general orders for the following day. While at the meeting I received a call from Sasha back at the camp. He informed me that the Lancers were driving two jeeps up and down the berm in the dark and were coming dangerously close to our tents full of men. I informed Jon Stevens and he left the meeting to take care of it. This was an omen of things to come. When bedtime hit we were down to two men who were not there yet. That was Ivan and Mikhail. They rolled in late late Friday night. It was cols that night and windy but the heaters in the Soviet Squad tents made it very tolerable. My snoring was a different story.
We rolled out of the sack at 6:00 AM and proceeded to get ready for S & A inspection at 7:30 AM as established the night before at the officers call. The 95th Rifles arrived and so the Russians numbers grew. So at 7:30 AM we were on line at the inspection area and began the wait. It appears that the Germans were dragging their feet and were behind schedule. Soon the Eastern Front Poles arrived and our numbers grew even more. So we conducted our S & A and the pyro demo was a hoot. A GI tried to blow his hand off when he had a premature detonation of the lift charge before his hand was clear of the barrel. It burned him a little and after medical treatment he fired another one and it blew the bottle apart. Our mortar passed with flying colors. We then waited until 9:00 for deployment.
We deployed and pressed toward our objective which was a vehicle fording point which was designated as a blown bridge. Well Toli and his eagle eye found a spot to wade across the creek at a point approximately 400 yards up stream of the objective. It was a grand site to see the RKKA push across the flowing waters into enemy territory. So now we were behind enemy lines and moving towards our objective and we were within 200 yards of it. It was approximately 45 minutes into the tactical and we heard sirens. We then had radio chatter and were told to stop due to a real accident. Somebody in our unit made a joke that is was probably the Lancers. Little did we
know how correct that statement was. The Lancers rolled a jeep which sent all four riders to the hospital. The event was put on hold until the mess was sorted out. So we stayed in our positions for an hour or two before we were recalled. during this time our unit suffered 80% casualties due to multiple grenade detonations and one rifle shot. We got a ride back in a German half track. That was cool.
At 1:30 we re-deployed minus the Eastern Poles but this time we decided to divert from the vehicle fording objective and head for
the crossroads objective which was clear at the South end of the site. Once again we crossed the creek and it was a site to behold.
Then with Toli leading the way we pushed hard due south and soon we reached the south end of the site and so we turned west to reach the next objective. At this point we let the 95th take the lead and we pushed slowly on towards the crossroads. We could hear gunfire to the north but it was not close enough to be of concern. We soon arrived at the crossroads and we found a German truck and gun parked there with five Germans in it. We stormed in and took the Germans completely by surprise and mowed them down. They were unable to stop the Red wave. We had captured the objective. But could we hold it? So we tried to deploy but within a few minutes two German half tracks and plenty of German troops hit us from two directions. It was crazy. The 95th engaged and took out a lot of Germans and we fell back to the north to link up with the Americans.
An American WWI aircraft, a trainer, made several passes and the
Germans opened up on it. It was here that we deployed the mortar and fired 60 rounds into the German positions at the crossroads. We must have been giving them some headaches because the Germans sent a patrol up the road after us to silence the mortar and they found us and silenced us. The Germans then moved out.
We moved out towards the sound of the guns which was at the last objective, a radio tower. But after some walking we realized it was getting late in the day and we were getting farther away from our base camp. A German truck passed us and let us know that they were heading back towards to the vehicle ford to set up a defense. So we decided to head that way back towards camp to engage the Germans at the ford in a final all out attack. Well we caught up with the 95th right before the ford and we pulled out hand grenades and smoke grenades and we threw a bunch of them at the Germans and then charged in. It was great. We then forded the stream and began to throw grenades at our comrades as the crossed the stream. We returned to camp to cool down and rest. Our comrades in the 95th loaded up and headed for home.
Saturday evening we sat down and enjoyed cheese potato soup made by my wife and deer steaks cooked by Brian. This was followed up by some Soviet cookies and chocolate I had purchased from the Russian food store in Mexico, MO. Life was good. Some of the 416th headed fro home some of us stayed the night. Many of the troops pulled out Saturday night. We were entertained as we watched the stovepipe of the Polish Lancers tent make contact with the canvas and smolder away. Yes the Poles were aware of this but didn't seemto be too worried. Sunday morning I watched as the Lancers tried to throw cups
of water up on to the roof of their tent to keep the canvas from
burning due to contact with the stovepipe. For fun I even tried to
lend a hand with some water but to no avail.
If it weren't for the Polish Lancers the event would have been
great. But as it was it was still a good event at a great site.
My thanks to the 95th and the 1st Polish Infantry for their
assistance at the event.
The 416th can be proud of its members who were at this event because they upheld the unit name.
Good job 416th!
Sincerely,
Dima
to go.
We were shown to our spot and we began to set up our tent. It was windy and we all almost went for a ride when the wind caught the tent and it flew around. After some choice Russian words the tent was up and we had a home. So we began furnishing our home. The next thing we know the Polish Lancers arrive and begin to set up their camp about 30 feet from our camp. This made us a bit nervous knowing the Poles propensity towards unsafe behavior.
As the afternoon rolled around more and more of our merry band
arrived and the fun was non stop.
At 8:00 PM Toli and I went to the officers call to get our
assignments and general orders for the following day. While at the meeting I received a call from Sasha back at the camp. He informed me that the Lancers were driving two jeeps up and down the berm in the dark and were coming dangerously close to our tents full of men. I informed Jon Stevens and he left the meeting to take care of it. This was an omen of things to come. When bedtime hit we were down to two men who were not there yet. That was Ivan and Mikhail. They rolled in late late Friday night. It was cols that night and windy but the heaters in the Soviet Squad tents made it very tolerable. My snoring was a different story.
We rolled out of the sack at 6:00 AM and proceeded to get ready for S & A inspection at 7:30 AM as established the night before at the officers call. The 95th Rifles arrived and so the Russians numbers grew. So at 7:30 AM we were on line at the inspection area and began the wait. It appears that the Germans were dragging their feet and were behind schedule. Soon the Eastern Front Poles arrived and our numbers grew even more. So we conducted our S & A and the pyro demo was a hoot. A GI tried to blow his hand off when he had a premature detonation of the lift charge before his hand was clear of the barrel. It burned him a little and after medical treatment he fired another one and it blew the bottle apart. Our mortar passed with flying colors. We then waited until 9:00 for deployment.
We deployed and pressed toward our objective which was a vehicle fording point which was designated as a blown bridge. Well Toli and his eagle eye found a spot to wade across the creek at a point approximately 400 yards up stream of the objective. It was a grand site to see the RKKA push across the flowing waters into enemy territory. So now we were behind enemy lines and moving towards our objective and we were within 200 yards of it. It was approximately 45 minutes into the tactical and we heard sirens. We then had radio chatter and were told to stop due to a real accident. Somebody in our unit made a joke that is was probably the Lancers. Little did we
know how correct that statement was. The Lancers rolled a jeep which sent all four riders to the hospital. The event was put on hold until the mess was sorted out. So we stayed in our positions for an hour or two before we were recalled. during this time our unit suffered 80% casualties due to multiple grenade detonations and one rifle shot. We got a ride back in a German half track. That was cool.
At 1:30 we re-deployed minus the Eastern Poles but this time we decided to divert from the vehicle fording objective and head for
the crossroads objective which was clear at the South end of the site. Once again we crossed the creek and it was a site to behold.
Then with Toli leading the way we pushed hard due south and soon we reached the south end of the site and so we turned west to reach the next objective. At this point we let the 95th take the lead and we pushed slowly on towards the crossroads. We could hear gunfire to the north but it was not close enough to be of concern. We soon arrived at the crossroads and we found a German truck and gun parked there with five Germans in it. We stormed in and took the Germans completely by surprise and mowed them down. They were unable to stop the Red wave. We had captured the objective. But could we hold it? So we tried to deploy but within a few minutes two German half tracks and plenty of German troops hit us from two directions. It was crazy. The 95th engaged and took out a lot of Germans and we fell back to the north to link up with the Americans.
An American WWI aircraft, a trainer, made several passes and the
Germans opened up on it. It was here that we deployed the mortar and fired 60 rounds into the German positions at the crossroads. We must have been giving them some headaches because the Germans sent a patrol up the road after us to silence the mortar and they found us and silenced us. The Germans then moved out.
We moved out towards the sound of the guns which was at the last objective, a radio tower. But after some walking we realized it was getting late in the day and we were getting farther away from our base camp. A German truck passed us and let us know that they were heading back towards to the vehicle ford to set up a defense. So we decided to head that way back towards camp to engage the Germans at the ford in a final all out attack. Well we caught up with the 95th right before the ford and we pulled out hand grenades and smoke grenades and we threw a bunch of them at the Germans and then charged in. It was great. We then forded the stream and began to throw grenades at our comrades as the crossed the stream. We returned to camp to cool down and rest. Our comrades in the 95th loaded up and headed for home.
Saturday evening we sat down and enjoyed cheese potato soup made by my wife and deer steaks cooked by Brian. This was followed up by some Soviet cookies and chocolate I had purchased from the Russian food store in Mexico, MO. Life was good. Some of the 416th headed fro home some of us stayed the night. Many of the troops pulled out Saturday night. We were entertained as we watched the stovepipe of the Polish Lancers tent make contact with the canvas and smolder away. Yes the Poles were aware of this but didn't seemto be too worried. Sunday morning I watched as the Lancers tried to throw cups
of water up on to the roof of their tent to keep the canvas from
burning due to contact with the stovepipe. For fun I even tried to
lend a hand with some water but to no avail.
If it weren't for the Polish Lancers the event would have been
great. But as it was it was still a good event at a great site.
My thanks to the 95th and the 1st Polish Infantry for their
assistance at the event.
The 416th can be proud of its members who were at this event because they upheld the unit name.
Good job 416th!
Sincerely,
Dima