First WWII game in South Africa

We started, albeit small:

http://www.airsoftza.co.za/forum/viewto ... f=2&t=9937

Here is a review without pics. The above link has the pics.

THE FIRST SA WWII AIRSOFT GAME
Before writing this review there are a number of people I must thank. John for being the driving force behind this and all the planning that made this event possible and enjoyable. You had to be there to experience this. Tony and Alex for availing Syringa Warfare centre to us. Hendrik for looking after the village and the evening meal and keeping the fires burning. The rest of the guys who played at the first event, i.e. Steve, Tom, Christo, Tiaan, Renier and Philippe. Although this was started with a small field of players this will definitely lead to bigger things in the future. Though this first game lent itself well to the small teams and thus made for some interesting game play.

World War 2 Airsoft has never been tried before in South Africa. So the first game was uncharted territory. Anyone who has played the PC games Medal of Honour, Band of Brothers, etc, would have had some idea of the visuals and sights to be seen in such a game, except in real life that the colours, smells and experiences tend to be more vibrant.

I think many were waiting to see how this worked and looked. Well your waiting is over. The following photos don’t do it justice. Seeing the profile of a German helmet sticking over some sand bags and the barrel of a KAR 98 coming to bear. The sustained fire of a MG42. The sight of a red beret, a Denison smock and the unmistakable shape of a Sten. To experience in real life; All I can say it was amazing and WOW!!!!!!!!

THE STORY

The story is taken from the accounts of Allied forces involved and captured German intelligence. In August 1944 the defence of the village of Sains-Grieu became a battle of epic proportions. The village itself was at one time a normal bustling French village, but was ripped part by the war and years of occupation. The local population had mixed allegiances with both Free French partisans and a Vichy French element, though was the serious fighting started in the nearby area many of the civilian population fled to safety and abandoned their battle torn village. The major himself Hendriek Le Pretous was suspected of playing both sides during the conflict.

The village itself in prewar years was described as being a very beautiful place and a known holiday resort. On the North side it was overlooked by high ground and on the South side it was bordered by a scenic river and waterfalls. Along the river ran a forest area.

Recent reports of SS troops, accompanied by regular German Wermacht, occupying the village had spurred the Allieds to take action. A platoon of British Airborne No. XXI regiment paratroops carried out a parachute drop into the Western area. They were joined by a mixed platoon of Army Commandos and No.41 Royal Marine Commandos. The Germans were known to have established a base alongside the village, in a previous villa, to the East. The Allied troops established a temporary base on the far side of the village. The battle raged over two days. Both sides were trying to establish an allegiance with the French folk and their mayor, in the village, as well as search for Intel and do reconnaissance of the area and its surroundings. Both sides had limited medical supplies and ammunition but it was known that there were caches of these hidden in the village and it was of utmost importance to discover and return these to each sides respective head quarters to enable them to gain an advantage and keep on with the battle. Later reports would put the unit strength of both sides as being similar, although the Germans troops were able to field the fearsome MG42 heavy machine gun. The only advantage the British forces had was some battle experienced individuals who had fought in many previous campaigns.

After establishing their HQ the Allied troops set about exploring the nearby buildings before moving into the village itself and then exploring the buildings on the East side of the village. All the various caches were noted for later retrieval. On entering the village itself it was found to already be occupied by a German force. A heavy fire fight ensued, with both sides taking heavy casualties. This however ended in a stalemate with neither side gaining any advantage. The German machine gunner was able to keep the allied forces suppressed with sustained machine gun fire.

The Allied forces decided to withdraw, but unfortunately during this a wounded member of the Airborne unit was taken prisoner. The Germans attempted to barter his exchange for any cache they could obtain, post his interrogation. Fortunately the British were able to deceive the Germans and exchange the prisoner for information for an already raided cache (unknown to the Germans). A large part of the day was spent by both sides reconning the area and avoiding each other.

A major firefight on the South side of the village ensured in the late afternoon, with an Allied section surprising a German section. The Allieds held an advantage initially but the Germans were able to overpower them and take the Section Commander, 1st Lieutenant Richard prisoner. After verbosely responding to their interrogation he was tragically executed the German Commanding Officer.

Both forces spent the rest of the day exploring the area. It was reported that the Germans did recover a cache based upon Intel from the Mayor. A small firefight was encountered with both sides taking light casualties.

Throughout the day the British had regularly recovered arms and medical caches.

No fighting occurred that night due to very inclement weather. However the Allied commander did make contact with a French partisan group that decided to join with the Allies for an attack the next day. Both sides had part of their forces withdrawn because of heavy conflicts occurring in neighboring areas with the Allies losing part of half their Airborne troops and the Germans losing their Wermacht contingent.

The following morning at first light the Allied formation moved out of their HQ to do a risky maneuver of attacking the German base. They were accompanied by a section of Free French, along with the mayor, Unfortunately the Germans had established an ambush and a heavy firefight ensued. A German HMG squad almost made it into the base but was annihilated and one German gunner was captured and interrogated. Unfortunately he disappeared in the heat of battle and was thought to have drowned in the river. This German did however receive the Iron Cross 1st class for these and other brave efforts.

In the meantime the remainder of a German section was captured.

Further reconnaissance was carried out and during this time a German raid was carried out on the Allied base, overcoming all the Allied forces in that area, and unfortunately vital resources were stolen. The French section was also captured and interrogated, though it seemed the mayor was not harmed and switched sides. During this time a brave Belgian paratrooper had raided the enemy base and hidden all their resources.

On returning to base it was decided that that the enemy base would be raided in force. The Germans had moved into the village for a standoff. In this time the brave paratrooper had returned to their base and recovered the previously hidden resources plus those recently captured from the Allied. The Allied commander led a second raid to the German base. En route the brave Belgian was wounded in a friendly fire incident but was able to return to base. He thereby earned the highest Allied commendation for bravery for the battle. The Allied commander was able to steal all the German intelligence gathered in the previous battles and interrogations.

The Allied force was able to flank the awaiting Germans but in the last ensuing battle most of the forces on both sides were tragically killed with no clear winner.

And so ended the first battle in the SA WWII Airsoft campaign.

BACK TO THE AIRSOFT

There were 9 players who attended the day:
1) FRENCH CIVILIANS
a. Hendrik
2) ALLIED SOLDIERS
a. Richard-RM Commando
b. Tiaan-Commando
c. Renier-XXI Airborne
d. Philippe-XXI Airborne

3) GERMAN SOLDIERS
a. John-SS Commander
b. Tom-SS Soldier
c. Christo-SS HMG
d. Steven-Wermacht

The idea was here to learn and incorporate into future games. As we were starting out the uniforms used were tried to give the appearance of something that would be used during this time period. As time progresses and funds allow the kit will be gathered.
Various Airsoft guns were used, from Thompsons, M1911’s, a Sten, STG44’s, a Luger, a 870 Remington shottie, a M14 and a M60 converted to a MG42. The same approach was taken initially with these as per the uniforms.

The rations supplied for the day consisted of Bully Beef, tinned fruit, crackers and cheese. The communal evening meal consisted of soup and home made bread. It was interesting to see both Germans and Allied sitting together and cracking jokes.

THE GAMEPLAY

With such small groups a lot of time was spent scouring and avoiding firefights till enough recon was gathered and the ammo boxes (which were the objectives) were identified. Each team was only to recover only one box an hour. These were hidden by Tony without our knowledge. The larger boxes were attached using a padlock and chain and a pair of bolt cutters was used to recover these. Ever tried to use bolt cutter quietly and quickly whilst a German patrol was moving nearby? In our case many times the bolt cutters were not present and we had to return later to undo the boxes.

Each small ammo box contained extra medical supplies, consisting of extra pain killers, tourniquets and bandages. Others contained allowances for extra ammo, as strict ammo allowances were put on the troops for a whole day. This meant ammo had to be conserved and firefights kept to a minimum.

Due to the large area a lot of time was spent observing the enemy and searching for objectives and due to the strict medical rules (which were fun) firefights were normally done in a group. The rules for bartering and disposal of prisoners were done adlib on the day.

THE EXPERIENCE

Man-oh-man. This was a mix of objectives based game, milsim, strategy, the twisting and turning of the civilians and historic experience. There is nothing better than looking around and seeing figures kitted in WWII uniforms. When you first run into the enemy and seeing a new but familiar silhouette.

The experience of walking through burnt veldt and a Popular tree forest with a tommy gun in your hands, on your way to a Raiding Party.

The limited use of radios, with one static radio at the base and one large backpack mounted radio in the field, made communications different. I did bring a period WWII officers whistle. The Germans using field telephones coupled with wire runs.

John rounded the day off with a campaign ribbon and medals for valiant game play. This was awarded to Christo (Germans) and to Philippe (Allieds). Christo had done many good hard runs at us whilst carrying his HMG and even carried out noted fair play. Philippe was noted for charging at the enemy and his single handed raids. What an epic way to finish a weekend of a unique part of Airsoft.