Operation Battleaxe - Day 1 Mission 3 - The German Turn

I rolled on the random tables and the Germans will fight two defensive missions on the day. Lucky them. In rolling for the mission, both resolved in intercept missions. The first mission will have 8 fighters flying. The second will have just four.

The Germans began the mission with two groups of four aircraft. These were piloted by:

Pilot	Status	Group
Hauptman Hippler	Veteran	White 1
Lt Masing	Regular	White 2
Fw Lips	SPROG	White 3
Ofr Gebhardt	Sprog	White 4
OLt Grun	Veteran	Orange 1
Lt Von Braun	Regular	Orange 2
Fw ViermetzRegular	Organge 3
Ofr Ehrmann	Sprog	Orange 4

The opposingh forces was two groups of four Hawker Hurricanes escorting a group of three Martin Maryland bombers. Given the small hex mat that I was using, I put the opposing forces on the opposite sides. The bombers were between the two groups of Hurricanes. I have not added in bogeys yet as the table top is too small for that to really work. The two groups of fighters advanced rapidly on one another.

The Organge flight of Germans came face to face with the RAF Group 2, Pilot II. By luck of the draw, the Raf fire card came up first. He poured fire into the Ofr Ehmann's aircraft and landed a hit on the pilot, killing him instantly. The first score of the game went to the RAF. In that same section fire card, The RAF pilot Group 2, Pilot III fired on Fw Viermetz's aircraft and caused engine damage. Then RAF Pilot IV from the same section also shot but missed causing him to side slip.

the first group of Germans under Hauptmann Hippler closed in on the bombers. The bombers drew their fire card and missed. In the next turn, the bombers card came up and a bomber scored wing damage on Ofr Gebhardt's plane. The survivors of the German flight under OberLeutnant Grun circled around the bombers. The RAF red group attempted to do an immelman to turn around and catch up to the Germans but two of the four aircraft failed their rolls.

The Germans attempted to surround the bombers but the bomber move cards came up and they moved forward without taking a single shot.

The RAF Group 1 character fire on a german plane and side slipped. He fired again on the next card and missed. Then the RAF red desction fire card came up. Red 1 was positioned on the German Fw Viermetz. The result was engine damage. This was the second engine damage result that he had taken and his plane plummeted to the ground. Luckily, he was able to bail out later and reached the ground safely.

This brought the third turn of the game. The bombers continued their advance toward their target. RAF Red character had a shot on Ofr Gebhardt but only managed minor damage. But Gebhardt was not out of the fight. He was able to bring his guns to bear on RAF white #II and cause catastrophic structural damage. On the move card, the stricken RAF pilot was able to bail out and parachute to safety.

On the start of turn four, the bombers safely exited the map to their target. RAF Red IV got on the tail of the German pilot Lt Von Braun. His fire caused catastrophic structural damage leading to another RAF victory. Not to be outdone, the leader of red group fired on Fw Lips but timed his shot poorly and side slipped. Von Braun's card came up and he was able to bail out successfully.

The RAF leader of white group got a shot off on Hauptman Hippler. The veteran took damage to his instruments. The RAF fired again and his shooting was so bad, he side slipped. The German move card had them flying back to base with all haste. The mission was an abject failure. The RAF succeeded.

The Germans as they stand from this mission:

Pilot	Status	Group
Hauptman Hippler	Veteran	White 1 Instrument Damage
Lt Masing	Regular	White 2
Fw Lips	SPROG	White 3
Ofr Gebhardt	Sprog	White 4, Wing Damage, Minor Damage, 1 Kill
OLt Grun	Veteran	Orange 1
Lt Von Braun	Regular	Orange 2, Shot Down - Walking to base.
Fw ViermetzRegular	Organge 3, Shot Down - Walking to base
Ofr Ehrmann	Sprog	Orange 4, Shot Down, KIA

The squadron is supposed to fly a second mission. However, they only have three undamaged aircraft from this mission and another four men back at base who can fly. Of the aircraft that returned, two are badly damaged.

The next mission will be my RAF squadrom.