Roll call:

• Andrew
• Brandon
• Steve
• Brian
• Jason
• Matt
• Sam

The 17th of January, the team returns from recon

• Staff Sgt. Odd provides report and we are commended for our mission
• Our full platoon is asked to assist in finding a platoon that is lost, unheard from
  • Don’t engage enemy; mission is only to find the platoon

January 21

• Craig and Keagan crest a hill and see a wall of darkness about 10 miles out
  • Reminiscent of a storm coming in
  • Craig believes it may be a sandstorm – spans horizon from left to right
• Continuing toward the storm, Craig notices what appears to be a man-made structure about a mile out
  • Sarge directs us to the ruins as shelter from the incoming storm
• Craig and Keagan arrive first at the ruins
  • Appears to be empty, walls about 30 feet high but no roof
  • Craig and McVey check out the two doorways
    • McVey climbs in and finds a 10-foot wide corridor
    • Craig finds a similar corridor inside his doorway
  • JT searches for any signs of human or animal tracks, finds his own bootprints
• Sarge directs us all inside
  • Craig believes he sees some largish tracks – bigger than a small animal, possibly human
    • Craig follows the tracks to the right and the corridor appears to get brighter in that direction
  • The squad follows Criag and McVey
    • The corridor opens up into a kind of courtyard
    • Craig heads into the courtyard to investigate something partially buried in the sand
    • There appear to be at least two corpses from the missing platoon, bullet holes are the likely cause of death
  • We head back down the other corridor at the T-intersection we’d passed
    • There are several rooms along the left side of the corridor
• After a couple hours, the storm has really picked up
  • The sun is completely blocked
  • After a bit, the group of us black out
  • We awake to find ourselves in the center of the sandstorm
    • Sand is biting us, we have no guns or grenades
    • It seems like a dream
    • McVey hits Ashley on the arm and realizes he’s wearing a breastplate instead of his uniform
    • Our rifles have been replaced by spears, and we discover that we’re being circled by chariots in some kind of arena
• We engage our ancient Roman foes
  • JT runs to a chariot and attempts to relieve them of their spears, but fails
  • Ashley takes a hit from a spear
  • JT jumps onto a chariot and hits the driver as Sarge plants a spear in front of the horse
    • The horse impales itself as JT jumps off, and the chariot flips through the air and lands on top of the soldiers, crushing them like Roma tomatoes
  • Big Ed precisely hurls a spear into the driver of the chariot that JT just jumped aboard, tearing a mortal wound through the driver
  • Guido and McVey start driving one of the available chariots
  • Craig jumps up with JT and they take out the remaining soldier -* another chariot liberated!
  • The Insane Chariot Posse rams their chariot into a foe’s horse, but McVey fails to hit anyone with his spear
  • JT takes over another chariot while Big Ed shreds Sarge’s opponent with another wicked spear throw
  • Guido and McVey continue battling with the adjacent chariot
    • McVey throws his spear, destroying his opponent
  • Sarge distracts one of his many opponents and JT takes advantage of it to run him through
    • Craig joins the fray and takes out another Roman
  • Big Ed fires a dagger, killing a soldier
  • Ashley turns his opponent into a shish kebab
  • Sarge and JT team up to take out the last Roman – the crowd roars!
• We look up to a covered area in the stands
  • Someone who looks like a leader gestures with his hand and the crowd cheers
  • One of the darker skinned fellows makes eye contact with us and nods to us
  • The gates beneath the covered stands open and guards march out, forming a corridor
  • The squad follows Sarge into the corridor
    • The corridor leads through a few sets of doors and eventually onto a cobblestone street
• Outside the area
  • A man greets us, congratulates us, and hands each of us 10 coins
  • We inquire about the man who nodded at us, but the man who paid us doesn’t know and assumes he is an advisor
• Sarge, Craig and Big Ed pay three talents to get back into the area
  • They leave their weapons with the rest of us and head up some stairs
  • Craig asks someone about the “advisor” and is told he may be Chidike Taha
• We set out to find this Taha fellow after getting the general direction in which he headed
  • Sarge orders us to execute a search pattern to find him
  • Craig eventually finds someone who can direct us to Taha’s residence
  • Upon our arrival, McVey knocks on the door, which is opened by Taha
  • Taha mentions that he has “the vision” and foresaw our arrival and that we came from far away
    • He doesn’t know how we can get back, but knows that there is a way for us to get back
    • His visions told us that he will have to help us find our way home after we find something to aid in our struggle
  • He explains his vision
    • He would recognize us and needs to help us find our aid
    • The “aid” we need is in the Casnian path and is on the south side of the highest hill
    • He has not heard of the Casnian path
    • The cave can only be accessed with something called the Prophet’s Blade
    • After we’ve gained whatever aid we need, Taha is supposed to help us return whence we came
    • Sarge asks Taha to check for maps or anyone who is familiar with the Casnian Path
• We prepare for a trip to the Kasserine Pass, in case this is the Casnian path to which Taha referred
  • Taha will supply a cart and mules
  • A week of food / water costs about 1 talent
  • Taha supplies a few maps, but none show a “Casnian path”
  • We sleep for the night, hoping that we’ll awaken in the 20th century

The morning of Januarus 14, 608 AUC

• We awaken, still in Taha’s home in ancient time
• We head out on our quest
• First day is uneventful and we break for the night
  • Aside from some animal noises, the night is uneventful

The next morning

• We arrive at the Kasserine Pass after about half a day’s travel
  • We head toward the highest hill
  • On the south side of the hill, we see a darker, shadowy area, which may be a cave
  • As we approach, we see an ornately designed door with a gap about the size of McVey’s scimitar
  • McVey sticks his sword into the gap and the doors open
• We prepare to enter
  • A musty, old smell emanates from the cavern… along with the smell of death
  • Just inside the door, there appears to be the remains of a body
  • A couple of the squad believe they noticed some movement inside
  • Craig begins his way into the cavern
    • The corpse appears to be an ancient, dessicated body clad in robes
    • As Craig pokes at the corpse, a star-shaped bronze item, with a small copper loop on the back, clatters to the floor along with a primitive short sword
    • The tunnel turns toward the right a bit and narrows
    • He believes he hears, ever so faintly, something like unintelligible voices or chattering
  • We continue, as a group, farther down the tunnel
    • The tunnel continues branching and Craig continues to track the noise
    • We notice that the walls have cave paintings on them
      • Ancient paintings with dark / brownish pigments of hunting scenes, like your stereotypical cave paintings
    • Craig finds a room at the end of a tunnel that has an unnatural red light coming from a small spot in the air toward the far end
      • The room is occupied by a fairly large number of small, toothy, sexless creatures with leathery, red skin and a darker spot on their foreheads
    • The creatures appear to be applying their own feces to the walls, climbing atop each other to reach higher places
    • The creatures notice Craig and begin to approach, as Craig retreats and warns the team
• We engage in battle against these shitty little beasts
  • When Guido sees the creatures, fear overcomes him and he acquires a phobia of germs
  • We take down two of them fairly quickly
  • Sarge notices that the spot on their foreheads appears to be a 5-pointed star
  • After dispatching a couple more of the beasts, JT notices a skeletal form on the ceiling, which jumps at him but misses
    • Big Ed takes down the animated skeleton with a single arrow
  • McVey slices one of the beasts completely in half with an amazing slash from his scimitar
    • McVey is scratched by a creature, but shrugs it off
  • Craig takes down the last red beast and the illuminated red thing disappears, but we hear a clink like something metallic hitting the ground
  • We find a metallic ring with a pentagram emblem on it
• We commence searching the room
  • The cave paintings in the room have been defaced by the red beasts’ feces
    • The paintings appear to be of smaller brown people fighting much larger black-painted people
• We begin exploring the rest of the cave system
  • There are a hell of a lot of branching tunnels with a couple larger rooms
  • We eventually find another room of cave paintings, seemingly depicting normal life
  • Another larger room contains a large square stone box
    • When McVey gets within 5 feet of it, the top cracks open and a figure rises out of the box
    • The figure stares unblinking at us and says “my wait has been long but the rewards appear to be succulent”
      • Sarge and JT are afraid
• Battle with the big bad guy
  • He’s tough and despite a couple of really good hits, he shrugs off our attacks
  • The seemingly evil incarnation waves his hand around and speaks some words, conjuring up a blurry, shimmering shield over himself
  • Big Ed manages to get in a hit past the mysterious shield, shaking Mr. Evil
  • Sarge also gets a really solid hit, but he continues to avoid wounds from our attacks
  • Mr. Evil deals a devastating blow to JT, who surprisingly suffers only one wound
  • McVey performs a stunning fumble and ends up throwing his scimitar across the room
  • Sarge steps up his game and destroys the incarnation of evil
    • The robed figure collapses and disintegrates, leaving only a pair of leather gloves behind
  • The gloves appear sufficiently normal but for particularly grippy patches in the palms
• In retrospect, Sarge and JT believe that when they recovered from being shaken, they felt a surge of confidence that seemed to be tied to McVey

Jan 2

Viktor Odorin is promoted to Staff Sargent.

Roger Ashley joins our squad.

Jan 15

We are given orders to recon an enemy installation about ten miles behind front line. As much of the squad is on KP or latrine duty only Sarge, McVey, Harrison, and Ashley are available for mission. Installation has AA protection, modern construction buildings.

Special camo is made available to us; weight of 2 pounds and gives bonus to stealth.

Jan 16

Head out early, with hand talkie.

There are two buildings. One is a depot for ammunition and a number of vehicles stop to resupply, including three Panzer MK III tanks. A messenger arrives by motorcycle and enters the smaller of the two buildings.

At night the squad moves in to get a better look. We walk into a minefield but quickly mark the mines. While sneaking into the smaller building that is an office / sleeping quarters we are interrupted and a firefight breaks out. McVey is wounded during our retreat. We did manage to collect a large volume of paperwork and will pass it on to the Lt. once back at base.

Jan 17

Make it back to the base.

Link to Action Report

We begin our assault (later in the day on December 4th)

• Plan is to sweep the huts followed by the two brick buildings
  • Big Ed will be covering us from the east
  • Guido will cover us from the south
• It’s approaching evening, so the light is dim as Harrison and JT approach the first hut
  • At some point prior to this, the Sarge taught us all how to use hand signals and now chastises us for not using them
  • The first hut has no inhabitants present, very simple furnishings
  • The second hut is similar to the first
    • As we’re about to leave, Harrison thinks he sees some odd shadow or something by the nearest derrick
  • Approaching the fourth hut, some of us notice light from the rear door of the one brick building
    • A human figure is silouetted in the doorway, he steps outside and lights a cigarette
    • As he re-enters the building, we notice some bunks inside but can’t tell if there’s anyone else inside
  • The remaining huts are all similar: unoccupied primitive residences
    • JT notices some shadow moving about 50 feet away and informs Sarge and Harrison
• We begin moving toward the one brick building
  • Before we get to the building, a figure seems to rise up out of the ground like an amorphous shadow and then take human form
  • Harrison gets his flashlight on the creature, and it appears solid and almost like it’s composed of animated crude oil
  • Big Ed takes a shot at it, but the bullet seems to pass through without causing much damage
  • Keagan and Benjamin both shoot the creature, but it seems to be affected much less than we would expect
  • The crude beast swings its hand toward Harrison and a geyser of some black, liquid-like substance shoots out at him
  • JT notices that it smells oily, shoots it and yells to McVey to set the beast on fire
  • Harrison hits it with a frag grenade, to little effect, before beating a tactical retreat
  • JT shoots it again and McVey tosses a lighter at it, setting it aflame
    • The creature flares up and collapses to the ground, becoming a puddle of flame
• The door on the one brick building opens
  • Big Ed notices the guy opening the door and one bullet flies from his rifle and into the Kraut’s forehead
  • JT charges over to back up the Sarge, but is spotted and shot from some other Kraut inside the building
    • Sarge tosses a frag grenade through the open door
  • Sarge blows away one of the SS soldiers inside
    • Another soldier throws a grenade back at Sarge and a bullet flies his way
    • JT takes a couple shots at the Kraut, then runs over and pulls Sarge away from the doorway
  • McVey very surprisingly fires a rifle, instead of throwing a grenade, and hits one of the Krauts in the building
  • Big Ed puts a hole through a pair of SS trousers, but the wearer is unscathed
  • One of the Krauts throws a grenade but it bounces off the door and never leaves the building
  • McVey sees one of the Krauts fire three red rays out the door and he’s hit by two of them, but shrugs them off
    • McVey thinks he hears some screaming from the other building as the SS solfier fires the beams
    • He walks up to the doorway and tosses a grenade right onto one of the Krauts, blasting him apart
    • He then tosses another onto the beam-shooting Kraut
  • Sarge charges in and fires beams of lead into the last Kraut, but this one is tough and he seems unaffected
  • Meanwhile, Harrison, who thinks he saw some movement in the distance, narrowly misses being hit by another stream of tarry oil
  • The last Kraut fires more red beams, hitting McVey
    • JT hears screams from the other building as the Kraut lights up the room
    • The Kraut retreats out the other door and is shot by Harrison and Rye
    • The Kraut does something that fills Rye with fear, and then he runs off
• Two oil monsters rise from the ground and attack Harrison and Rye
  • One of the creatures attacks the Kraut
  • Guido and Thomas shoot some holes into the Kraut, but he ignores the bullets
  • Sarge finally puts the final hole into the evil Kraut
• Battle continues with the two oil monsters
  • The one at the far end shoots a geyser of tarry oil at McVey, who is unlucky enough to be holding two candles
    • McVey is covered in flaming tar that’s so thick he’s feels like he’s stuck to the ground
  • Harrison tries to run over the tar monsters with the car
    • The first one is splattered into a pool of liquid
    • The second one takes a light hit, but is still standing
    • He turns back around and runs it over again, then Sarge’s Tommy gun reduces it to a black puddle on the ground
• Sarge has us check out the other building
  • In one corner we find 10 locals tied up, only one is still alive
  • The dead appear to be bleeding from their eyes and ears, like the dead Arabs we’d found in that other village
  • The lone survivor appears terrified but shows no obvious signs of physical harm
• Continuing our search
  • The building that had the SS appears to be pretty sparse
  • The car has nothing of interest, not even a map
• We search the derricks
  • There are a couple leaks in the plumbing, but not much else of interest
  • We find no more of the oil creatures
  • There are some 5- to 10-foot wide puddles of crude oil near the leaking areas
  • Sarge orders McVey to destroy the oil derricks and reserviors
• We begin our return to base
  • Sarge takes the car and places the surviving Arab in the back
  • After about an hour or so, we find a place to camp

The morning of December 5th

• We wake up relatively refreshed
  • We can only drive another several miles before the land becomes undriveable and we all have to hike
• We arrive back at camp without further incident
• Sarge reports to the Lieutenant and present the SS soldier documents
  • Woodhall confirms that we’ll be breaking camp tomorrow

December 6th

• We march back to camp and get some good chow for the first time in a while
• Sarge submits his report while concealing the true facts so that our team doesn’t look totally batshit crazy
• We follow up regarding the interrogation of the Arab
  • He seemed to be disoriented or crazed from the incident and talked about his friends being used as “ammunition”

December 21st

• Sarge is called in for more explanation about his report
  • Sarge explains that the SS officer had some kind of mini-flamethrower, which was not recovered
  • He states that McVey was the one who actually saw the device

December 23rd

• McVey explains exactly what he saw when the SS officer shot red rays at him

December 27th

• Sarge is called into the captain’s office again
  • Captain is there with Colonel Roth
  • Sarge is asked to confirm McVey’s report of the red rays and Sarge’s report of the “oil camoflage”
  • Roth states that while this all appears to be “not normal” there are a number of “not normal” things going on lately
    • It seems that Sarge’s crew will be assigned to more duties related to these unnatural goings on
    • Sarge should report any new encounters of this nature to Roth

December 2nd, planning to head out to set up on hills 307, 295, 330

• Patrolling hills to protect our line against incursions
• We head out to east with our platoon
  • Guido is slowing us down and the other squad overtakes ours
• After about an hour, we reach hill 307
• Sarge has us dig trenches and get set up
  • Sarge punishes Guido for holding the squad up by having him dig Sarge’s foxhole and then collect firewood
• After they’re done digging, Harrison and Holcombe go out to scout the area
  • They return after their initial survey to report no signs of the enemy
  • Sarge sends them out again for a more thorough assessment
• Big Ed hears the droning of an approaching plane
  • Sarge orders us into our holes, but it turns out to be one of ours
• Harrison notices the plane pass by, eastward, and then hears a couple of shots fired
  • He and Holcombe head to the top of the next hill to the east
    • They notice an armored car with a mounted gun, a couple soldiers lounging in the front seats
    • There’s a camp with a half dozen tents, some fire pits, about 20 men or so
    • An Italian tank lingers a bit farther out and appears to have machine gun mounts
  • They sneak back and report to Sarge
• Sarge checks his men and sends Harrison to report to the lieutenant
  • Lieutenant tells Harrison that HQ orders us to clear them out
  • Lieutenant sends 8 additional men to assist us in clearing out the enemy
• We position ourselves on the hill and prepare for the assault
  • Sarge calls in an air strike to introduce us to our foes
    • We manage to take out their armored car and about 3 soldiers
  • Sarge orders the crew to dig in and start firing, hoping that the Italians will come to us
    • In the opening couple rounds, we manage to hit two, but the range is an enormous challenge
    • Big Ed blows one away
  • Jimmy Lee breaks orders and starts down the hill to close the range
  • A few of us hear another diesel engine start up
  • The visible tank begins moving toward us, while the enemy troops take cover behind the hills
  • One of the Italians fires at JT and hits, but it only tears a hole through the shoulder of his uniform
  • Both tanks are driving toward us, one of them blows away one of the extra troops that the lieutenant sent with us
    • One of his squad mates gets revenge by taking out an Italian foot soldier
  • The tanks continue peppering us with suppressive fire while most of the Italian soldiers remain hidden behind cover
    • Benjamin fires a bazooka at one of the tanks, but the shot flies impotently past
  • Guido takes the bazooka away from Benjamin and he blasts both of the tanks
    • Neither tank moves after being hit
• Sarge orders half of us to flank right, the other half flank left, with Guido providing cover fire from the hill
  • The left flank starts taking fire from the dozen Italians they find
    • We return, taking out three of theirs
    • Two of our men are taken out and they begin a tactical retreat
  • The right flank gets in range and JT takes a light hit
  • The left flank loses another man
  • JT fires a grenade over the heads of the Italians… maybe they’ll think someone’s attacking them from behind
  • JT’s next shot blasts a hole into the hill next to the enemy
  • Bill Cone takes a hit and he’s down
  • We’re slowly whittling down the enemy
  • JT starts running in closer and gets into short range, taking out the nearest Italian
• The last standing Italian surrenders
  • Sarge orders Guido to set up on top of a hill, and Guido grabs some of the Italians’ food en route
  • Bill and 4 of the loaner soldiers survived, but one of the extras died of wounds
    • Bill and 1 of the loaners are ambulatory
  • We destroy the Italian weapons on site
  • Both tanks are inoperable and the crews dead; the armored car is destroyed
  • Guido tries translating some captured Italian documents
    • One is a letter back home to a lover
      • Germans sent them, some notes about being sent from a village and some strange goings on
    • There is a map with no additional markup on it
  • Sarge directs us to work on building stretchers for the non-walking wounded
  • We head back to our camp
• Back at camp, Guido interrogates the prisoner
  • Sent here as a defensive force, but doesn’t know about the plans of the Germans
  • Regarding the village with the strange goings on
    • Village was deserted about 4 days ago when they passed through
    • About 20 or 30 bodies lying out like they’d been gassed or something
      • Directed around the town by some German SS captain and only saw this from a distance
    • The village is about 8 miles due east of here, further into Tunisia
    • The battalion split up and he believes his was the only group out in this area
    • Guessing there was only one German squad at the village
• We head to the second hill to report to the lieutenant
  • We get a couple bazooks shells, a rifle grenade, and 4 clips of .30-06
  • Sarge asks about the Germans and the lieutenant says that it’s up to HQ, but he wouldn’t complain if we took initiative to scout them, ourselves
  • We schedule 2-hour watch shifts of two men while the rest get sleep
• Shortly after 11, Benjamin hears something to the north
  • Sounds like the drone of a plane flying for east to west
  • The rest of the night is uneventful

Morning of December 3rd

• Lt. Woodhall sends a private over to confirm that it’s OK if we want to check out a town
  • He asked for some intel, which the lieutenant will pass along if he hears back
• Sarge orders another recon mission
  • Harrison takes Big Ed and JT
• After the recon team departs, another U.S. plan returns from the west, heading east
  • It’s to the south of our camp, but it appears to be the same type of plane we’d seen yesterday
• The recon team is climbing a hill and about to turn around when we see a plane heading west, again appears to be the same plane
  • Off in the distance to the west, we see a slight valley with some structures, possibly oil derricks
    • There are some buildings that could possibly be considered a village of sorts
  • The team heads back so that we can get interrogated by Sarge about how long we were gone
• Sarge has received the intel that there are no obvious enemy forces for 10 miles to the east
  • Sarge decides to head out in the morning to check out this village with the derricks

Morning of December 4th

• We head out for the morning
  • For the first few hours, Sarge is on top of Guido to keep him from falling behind and Guido is panting
  • After about 4 hours, we get to the point where the recon team had spotted the derricks
• Sarge has the crew scout the area
  • A German soldier is standing against the wall under the eaves of one of the buildings
  • There are 4 buildings: 2 of brick / cinder block and 2 of stone / mud
• Harrison and JT head out to get closer to the guard and scout the area more closely
  • As they get closer, they see more of the local stone huts but no signs of life or people
  • There is a car parked on the north side of the building where the guard was
    • The car appears similar to the one that fled from the one village we assaulted where we found the dead Arabs
  • They return and report to the Sarge

21st

Prophet tomb belongs to Osama Bin Seid, commander of Muhammad’s army
JT finds copper vessel in Roman fort
Park jeeps miles from Roman fort
Take distributor caps from both jeeps
Hiked 5 miles to top of hill, Guido lags behind
See stone pillar off in the distance
Get closer, see clearing, archway
McVey tries to climb down, falls
McVey finds a couple of stone doors
Attacked by Arab mummies, including ones that don’t look as dead as the others
Enter tomb, 60′ × 40′, empty sarcophagi
While in hallway ceiling closes in on us
Guido barely makes it out
Make camp at end of day after travelling

23rd

Make way to jeeps, go to Marrakash
Find someone who works with archelologists, doesn’t know much
The rest of the group sees two Germans in bar
They follow the Krauts, Guido opens up on them
Kills driver of truck, Harris throws grendades
LT throws grenade
One of the men in the truck has LMG

24th

Head towars Casablance, need to stop for gas for truck
Find Daniel Waltgrave
Bought Swiss watch

25th

Meet with Prof to translate writings from crypt, writing lists battles Seid fought
Gave map to Prof
Head home to Oran

26th

Make it to Oran

29th

Moving out to patrol Hill 307, 295, 330
Allies to the west, Germans to the east
Load up w/ water, rations for a week
Bazooka x3 shells
8lbs zooka, 2 lbs /shell
Art will carry zooka

Link to report

It’s starting to get late in the day

• Watch schedules are decided
• Plan is to camp here for now, update plans if new orders arrive or the armor shows up
• Squad C arrives a couple hours later
  • Armor should be arriving tonight
  • We will be heading north, going around St. Cloud, toward Oran
  • We’ll likely be leaving Squad A here to hold the town
• In the wee hours of the morning, some of us notice the rumbling of Shermans rolling through the town
  • They inform us that there are no plans for other armor or reinforcements to arrive

In the morning

• We depart before daybreak
  • Harrison and Big Ed take point
  • Ed thinks he hears an engine off in the distance, seemingly approaching our position
  • We get off the road, take cover, and position ourselves to engage
  • Harrison and Big Ed identify a pair of French 2.5 ton trucks, which stop pretty much right in front of them
• The Frogs shoot at Harrison, undoubtedly kicking off their own demise
  • The rear squad starts running to catch up, while the rest of us engage the Frogs
  • Harrison tries hiding behind some light cover and he fires a rifle grenade into the rear truck
    • The cover doesn’t save Craig; Harrison is out of this battle with a shot to the gut
  • Big Ed stops some bullets with his body and beats a tactical retreat
  • Shots continue to fly back and forth as we slowly close the distance between the forces
  • Big Ed stops more bullets, and is out of the action
  • Jimmy finally manages to kill someone with a grenade, after the team had one complete miss and other disappointing minor hit
  • And the Frogs give Jimmy a bullet as a token of their appreciation
  • Two of the Frogs in the back raise their hands in surrender, while the others continue firing
  • After Sarge and Art take out a couple more Frogs, all the rest offer their surrender
  • Guido continues shooting Frogs until Sarge stands up and yells to stop shooting
• We interrogate the remaining French
  • Their orders were to reinforce the garrison at Fleuris
  • We’re told that there is a garrison about 3 miles southeast of Oran
• We take the French arms with us in the trucks and leave the Frogs on the road
• Attempts to heal Harrison and Big Ed aren’t successful, so we just make them comfortable in the truck and take them with

We resume our trek toward Oran

• En route, we pass a company of US soldiers on foot
  • They claim to be sent down from St. Cloud, because they “have an impasse” there
  • A couple companies surround St. Cloud, but our forces don’t want to bomb the town
• In a couple hours, we arrive at the area where we expect to find the garrison
  • It appears that the area has been abandoned
  • We search the emptied barracks, but find essentially nothing
  • We do find enough medical supplies for JT to assemble a medical kit
• We set up a perimeter and dig some foxholes
• Eventually, other US companies begin showing up, including those that we passed on the road
  • We’re told that we’ll probably just hold our position here for a couple days
• Food arrives later and Guido makes the most of it

The following morning

• We hear that a cease fire has been agreed to
• We expect to be able to move into Oran shortly

In the subsequent days

• We move to Oran and camp outside the city in tents
• Our wounded are tended to in a hospital
• We have various light duties, such as patrols
• On the 19th, Sarge is called into a meeting in a command tent
  • We are commended on our performance
  • Richard Holcombe has returned from the hospital
  • Sarge is offered R&R for his squad in Casablanca
    • We would also be delivering some documents to HQ
    • Need to be back in 7 days
    • The 6 of us plus Matt and Keagan will be taking the offer

We head off for Casablanca

• The trip is uneventful
• We arrive and Sarge attempts to find the destination for our delivery
  • Sarge delivers the documents and gets a shower for himself
• There are supposed to be some decent hotels toward the south, so that’s our new destination
• After some drinks the first night, the next day a couple of us buy pistols and Sarge buys himself an “ancient treasure map”
• Sarge asks the crew if we’d want to trek out to Marrakesh to search for ancient treasure
  • We’re all onboard except Matt and Keagan
  • Sarge verifies a couple of the map translations and gets a little history from the hotel manager

The trip to Marrakesh, a.k.a., “searching for treasure”

• We skirt around Marrakesh and head east toward the likely location of the ancient Roman garrison
• About 90 minutes of driving later, we get closer to the hills and we feel we should be very near the garrison
  • JT spots what appears to be the edge of a structure and we head that way
  • It’s beginning to get late, so we make camp near the edge of the presumed garrison
• The ruins show some vestiges of walls with a lot of sand and rubble piled up against them
• We camp for the night with 2 hour shifts for watch
  • Guido thinks he hears something, but sees nothing
  • Sarge hears something and investigates, finding a disturbance in some gravel
    • Something moves more gravel behind him, and he seems to catch sight of boots disappearing behind a wall
    • JT finds a pair of tracks, appearing to have approached from the west and then run back off to the west
  • Sarge orders JT and Harrison to try following the interlopers
    • They hear the sound of sand and gravel being kicked up by a vehicle off in the distance to the west
    • At the site of where the vehicle had been parked, they find the rut from the tire
    • There is very little disturbance on the ground, implying that they drove up, hiked to our camp, ran back to their car and drove off again

After the battle

• Sarge tries to find someone to interrogate our French prisoners
  • Sarge asks Craig to help him with getting info out of the prisoners
  • Sarge speaks with a Frenchie named Francois, who claims that he’ll help us
• Big Ed begins looking through the buildings, trying to find anything interesting
  • After being chastised by Sarge for scaring residents, Ed moves on to the administration building
• JT spots a rabbit and shoots it with the goal of putting it on the spit over the fire that he started
  • Sgt. Burr chews out JT and tells him to report to Odorin
  • Odorin instructs JT to stop shooting rabbits and that JT must share the rabbit with the rest of the crew
  • JT begins working on a stew after finding a big pot and some potatoes, carrots and other ingredients in the local buildings
• Meanwhile, Craig and McVey head out with Francois to clear the town
  • A few more Frenchies are captured without incident
  • Sarge inquires about the dead Arabs
    • Francois informs that those are from something that Hauptman Friedrich Schell, a German officer, had done
    • Schell had been here about a week and had asked for 5 men; he was provided with 5 random locals
    • None of the other locals know anything about why the men were taken, how they died, or even that they were killed
• The lieutenant informs Sarge of updated orders
  • We’re not heading to Saint Cloud now
  • Some of the armor’s been held up, and we’re heading to the La Senia aerodrome
  • We are to start off SW with A & B squads for Fleuris, which is about 2-3 hours march en route to La Senia
    • We will take the town, take prisoners, and clear the route for the armor
  • Everyone lines up to enjoy some home cooking from JT’s stew pot before we depart
  • Francois describes Fleuris, which is very similar to Demesne

We head out

• After a half hour, Francois advises us to cut south
• About 75 minutes later, we come to the crossroad that Francois mentioned
  • We take the narrow, dirt road west
  • About 45 minutes into the march, JT notices something glinting on a rise about 400 feet off to the left
    • JT crouches and tries to identify the source of the reflection and signals the group to halt
  • A couple shots are fired and hit near JT, who keeps low and makes his way back to the group
• Sarge sends JT and Big Ed out to take down the sniper
  • They get within less than 500 feet of the rise, but don’t see anyone on it
  • They scout around some more, but still see no one
  • JT climbs to the point and confirms that it was a sniper camp
    • JT sees someone in the distance with a rifle on his back, heading toward town
    • JT collects some of the spent brass and heads back to the Sarge, while Big Ed digs in at the sniper position to cover our crew
  • Sarge confirms that the brass is from a French rifle
• Sarge decides that we’ll scout out the town prior to engaging them
  • Craig and JT head to the top of the hills north of town and begin surveying the town
  • The town seems pretty active with military, probably 3-4 squads of French
  • There’s a duece-and-a-half truck, but we don’t see the car that drove off from Demesne
  • 2 machine gun nests on east side and a single anti-aircraft gun on the west end
  • The house where the truck is parked seems to have somewhat more activity

We commence our attack

• Squad A approaches from the west
• Squad B comes down from the hills to the north
  • Guido and Big Ed take up sniping positions on the hill with Jimmy and a couple others
  • The rest of us head down to the town, planning to make our way through town and then head east, taking out bunkers from behind
• JT finds a Frenchie stalking down an alley and takes a shot, kicking off the battle
  • After JT’s miss, Richard picks off the enemy
  • Fire rains down from the hillside, wounding two soldiers in the bunkers and killing another
  • The French begin firing back up the hill at Guido, Big Ed and company
  • Francois begins calling out, presumably advising the French to surrender
• The Frenchies take 3 shots at JT, who narrowly escapes being seriously wounded
  • Craig fire back, hitting one of JT’s adversaries
• Sarge’s Thompson belches lead, cutting through Frenchies like a knife through warm Brie
• The battle slows a bit, but the French are closing around us and we’re taking some hits
  • JT blows the head off of one of the soldiers trying to squeeze us in the alley
  • One of the French hits John, who collapses to the ground
  • Richard falls to another French rifleman
  • JT avenges Richard’s apparent death by making a Frenchie’s head explode like a watermelon filled with firecrackers
• We begin hearing the French in our area of the town crying out that they surrender, with the sound of weapons hitting the ground

Cleaning up

• We try tending to the wounded
  • Big Ed works on Sarge and heals up his wounds
  • John dies before we can operate
  • Richard is wounded in his right arm and is incapacitated * we need to hospitalize him
• Prisoners are housed in the garage under guard
• Three-man teams clear the town
• None of the prisoners know anything about the car that left Demesne
• We find no strange goings on, such as the 5 dead Arabs from Demesne

August, our Division was shipped to Britain

• We did some shore landing training on top of other standard training
• We’re told to be prepared to leave
• Shipped off to Scotland on Oct 25th
• Shipped out from Scotland on Nov 2nd
• After 12 days, there are rumors that we’ve passed Gibraltar and are headed toward Africa
• We’re part of a larger armada heading south, we’ll be trying to take a number of French colonies
  • Our leaders are unsure how the French will respond to our arrival

Evening of the 8th

• Announcement of broadcast from Major General Allen of 1st Division
  • Tomorrow morning we’ll be approaching the French, wearing armbands to identify us as Americans
  • Hoping for little resistance from French
• Lieutenant states that 3rd Battalion will set up defensive line toward East
  • We’ll approach Oran from SE within the next couple of days
• We land and place ourselves behind some berms on the beach
  • The French are behind sandbags, with two machine gunners
• Sarge tells us to hold our fire and ask the French to embrace us as friends
  • Guido thinks he hears Sarge say “fire” and lets the first shot fly
  • The French splatter suppression fire at our berm
  • Big Ed takes an aimed shot, but the darkness and cover foil his attempt
• Sarge reinforces his orders
  • Some additional shots are exchanged, including a couple from our side, but the shooting subsides
  • We convince the French to surrender
• We head over to the barracks to collect the remainder of the French
  • Two Frenchies exit a building with pistols and take shots at our squad after being told to surrender
  • Missing their targets, the two Frenchmen are taken out by our squad
• Our orders: 16th Regiment (2/3 of it) heading up the road to Oran (~20 miles away)
  • Damesne (5 miles out) and Saint Cloud (3 miles farther) are two villages en route to Oran
    • Damesne may be defended by a company
    • Saint Cloud may be defended by a company, with possibly another couple in the barracks
  • Sargeant Odorin asks the French leader to radio to the towns and inform them of the surrender
• We receive immediate orders for securing the beach for engineers and such

About 7:00 AM we head out down the road

• A couple hours later, Jimmy and Craig notice some buildings less than a mile in the distance
  • Sandbag barriers are visible on the sides of the road, and there appears to be machine gunners
  • Jimmy and Craig attempt to conceal themselves and approach the village to scout it out
    • A couple of grunt soldiers are spotted in the village
    • On the far side is a nice car with a couple guards by it and a gun barrel sticking out of a nearby building
    • Not too far from that is another building, a handful of soldiers kicking back behind a wall of sandbags, and a crewed gun
    • Toward the front of the village is another good handful of soldiers
• Plan is to send one squad to West of town, another to come up road to SW, and our squad will approach and attempt to obtain their surrender
  • As we’re approaching, one of the machine gunners prepares to shoot, but Big Ed and Guido take him out
  • More French run up to the one ’gunner and JT perfectly lobs a rifle grenade, leaving only a crater where four French once stood
  • Jimmy takes out the other machine gun nest with another grenade: two more Frenchies down
  • We begin to hear a fire fight on the other side of the village
  • French snipers take a couple shots, getting a flesh wound on Jimmy and injuring another soldier
  • Sarge blows the head off a Frenchie with a spectacular long shot from his Thompson
  • Big Ed takes down a Frenchie hiding in a window with a long range shot from his sniper rifle
  • Guido blows the hell out of another Frenchie… they must be feeling the attrition by now
  • At this point, we’ve heard some artillary and now we hear a car start and begin tearing off
  • Keagan blasts another guy to hell, and starts giggling maniacally
  • Guido moves over and shoots the car, which appears unfazed and continues rolling away
  • One of our guys finally takes out the sniper in the window
• We hear some shots on the other side of the village and the car driving away
  • We discover that our other squads were successful in taking out the French and their artillary
• Damesne has been cleared
• The lieutenant mentions that a bunch of Arabs were found dead, slumped against a wall in the one building
  • Sarge and Jimmy check and find no bullet wounds, but they appear to have been bleeding from their eyes and ears
  • Sarge believes it may have poison and tells everyone to not eat or drink anything from the village
• Jimmy gets the “phone” working and contacts Saint Cloud to inform them to surrender
  • It’s obvious that Saint Cloud won’t be surrendering

Action Report 11081942