Der Gemsenjäger

Frontblatt der 5. Gebirgsjäger division    2. /GJR 100

F.P.Nr.24971c                                                                               2 Juni, 2006

Kameraden,

Wie gehts! Well another tactical season has come and gone, and what a way to end the season with two very good battles at Torrance and Camden. New to our unit this year was Torrance Pa. This is an invite only battle and we must have made a good impression because we have been invited back. I have been told there should be a fall battle there this year, no date set yet. Even though the number of unit members has fallen this past year we are now left with what I believe is the cream of the crop, and it has shown at both FIG and the past few tacticals. We are now having fun again! So let us build on this core group and any recruiting we do this summer let us be very picky as to whom we ask to join our unit.

I would like to welcome Chris Guska as our newest recruit. He has made two tacticals with us so far and has been an outstanding addition to the unit.

The brothers of Troy and Karl Allison have been with us now for only a few months and are already making great contributions to the unit. Keep up the good work. These are the kind of quality people we want and need to be the best in our hobby.

A couple of other notes: I have made up a new unit roster with the usual info plus your German names and rank. Anyone wanting one please let me know and I’ll get one to you. Also we should have our rifle grenades perfected by next fall’s tacticals so anyone interested in doing the impression please let me know. One more thing, John Rotatori has agreed to let me take over his website for our unit, so I hope to be able to figure out how to run it and keep it updated. If anyone has any ideas of what they would like to see on the website please let me know. And thanks John for all your help.

Here are the dates I have so far for this summer’s events.

1. June 17^th-18^th    MAPS air show – Our biggest and best of the year. Maximum effort, excellent air show.

2. July 15^th-16^th    Lost Nations air show – Second biggest of the year. Another maximum effort. See enclosed flyer.

3. July 22^nd    Hubbard Museum – Let’s support Henry’s fantastic museum. Well worth the drive just to see the museum.

4. Nov. 3^rd-4^th    Fall Camden

I’m sure there will be more events. I’ll let you know ASAP

Torrance Pa.

After action report

8 April 2006

Torrance is located approx. one hour east of Pittsburgh, and well worth the drive. What a great place! It has everything, rolling farmland, hills, woodlands, creeks and best of all period style buildings. A very re-enactor friendly event. The 101^st airborne unit that sponsored the event did a very good job organizing the D-Day scenario. We kicked off at 6:00am with light rain and sleet. Our orders were to link up with a SS unit at the old sanitarium and defend a nearby bridge. The allied airborne meanwhile had been dropped all over the place and confusion rained on the battlefield as we were to soon find out. We left HQ and didn’t get five minutes down the road when we were ambushed and wiped out to the man. Great Start! After awhile we headed back out into the darkness to link up with the SS at the sanitarium. Upon arriving all was too quiet, so I left the squad outside and went inside to make contact. To my horror I found it to be occupied by allied airborne. Thanks to the darkness and rain I was able to get out and retrieve the squad and disappear into the woods before they could react. The airborne were everywhere, but somehow we had to make our way down to the bridge. I was sure by now the enemy held the bridge. Sure enough as we neared the bridge we found it was held by British Para’s. After a short fire fight there was no way one squad was going to take back the bridge or even hold it, so we decided our best course of action would be to make it back to our own lines. Heading back took us near the sanitarium again and in seeing and hearing no activity we decided to investigate. By now it was daylight and the rain had stopped. Upon entering the building we found it to be occupied by a squad of SS. Between our two units we could muster only about 15-20 men and soon after the allies discovered that we now held the sanitarium. They quickly attacked and we decimated their first wave with no casualties to ourselves. Within thirty minutes all hell broke lose and we were hit from three sides by 70-80 allies, which pushed us back into the building. Defending room to room they brought up a bazooka and firing at point blank range, took us all out. They were in no mood to take prisoners.

Now the sky was clearing and we had to keep an eye out for allied aircraft as we tried to make our way back to friendly territory. On the way we captured an allied courier and retrieved some important documents. Must get these back to HQ.

As we neared our lines we could hear a major battle raging, with the allies between safety and us. And to make matters worst we had a large open field to cross. Lucky for us the allies were preoccupied with the battle not paying any attention to their rear, so we took advantage of the situation and positioned ourselves on some high ground with a commanding view of the area. What a great position, if only we had a radio to call in artillery fire we could have decimated the allied forces. All we could do is throw some harassing fire at them and in doing so we completely shut down the road they were using to send in reinforcements. Finally the allies had enough of us sniping at their rear and sent units to kick us off the hill. We had to make a mad dash across open ground to reach the woods and not be surrounded. Slipping our pursuers and not being able to cross over to our lines we worked our way back to the bridge that we were suppose to have held in the morning. Hoping that the allies had by now abandoned it, we arrived to find it back in German hands. The allies needed this bridge to send reinforcements to the front so we knew they would want it back. Lacking enough explosives to blow the bridge we set up our defenses. This would be our last stand. Before long the allies attacked and we beat off the first two waves, but ammo was running out and we weren’t as lucky the third time as we were overwhelmed.

In closing I believe the units we went up against took their hits well and were of very good caliber. Our unit received numerous comments on how good we looked and preformed. The overall German commander from GD even told us he would like to see us do more eastern US battles, saying it’s nice to see Gebirgs that don’t look like civil war re-enactors. Also we have been invited back for future battles. We will be back! 

 

Camden

After action report

19-20 Mai 2006

Well after about ten straight days of rain the sky finally cleared Friday morning, and what a great weekend! Perfect for a tactical. We arrived Friday about noon set up camp and shared in some great camaraderie. The next morning we received our orders and it was time to move out. We were to patrol out in front of the 352^nd’s artillery position and guard against enemy penetrations. Not expecting any enemy action for some time we let our guard down and was suddenly ambushed by a small band of GI’s. Just like Torrance all over again! The one good thing that came out of this was that it alerted the 352^nd to the enemy attack. After falling back behind our own lines we joined back into the battle and the artillery position was held.

Our next orders were to hold two bridges from falling into enemy hands. The bridges were a good distance from the artillery position so we had to move quickly, (but not get ambushed again). Upon arriving we found there is a high ridge running parallel with the road overlooking both bridges, so we took positions above the first bridge. That was a big mistake! We positioned ourselves to close to the bridge and the enemy knew we would be there. Soon they attacked in force and they quickly overwhelmed us, forcing us to fall back to the second bridge. It was time to change our tactics, when trying to only defend we were just being overwhelmed. They say the best defense is a good offense, so it is time to go on the offensive. We will be the ones doing the ambushing and hit and run tactics. As we fell back to the second bridge this time we positioned ourselves some distance out in front of the bridge and farther up hill. No more getting caught between a rock and a hard place. The plan worked! Soon we observed a GI force working its way along the edge of the ridge heading toward the bridge. As they went by we hit them from the rear/side and took out 5-6 of the enemy and we disappeared into the woods. For a short time they searched for us but to no avail. Still shadowing them we hit them again and took out another 2-3 troopers, and again we disappeared into the woods. This action through the GI’s into confusion and I believe they did not know what to do. A short while later gunfire erupted around the bridge so we made our way back to help our comrades defending there. As we neared the fighting we observed 4-5 GI’s shooting down at our comrades below, working our way behind them they didn’t know what hit them. The high ground was now ours and we had a commanding view of the bridge below along with the airborne troopers that had just taken the bridge. Bt this time there was only three of us left, Friedrich, Hans and myself. Friedrich and Hans worked their way down to the right of the bridge while I covered for them from above and to the left. It was a turkey shoot! Every time the GI’s would stick their head out or try to outflank us we would drop them. Most never even got a shot off at us. As we worked our way down to the bridge things became very quiet and we searched both sides of the bridge thinking at any moment we would be history. But we finally realized that there were no more GI’s, we had taken back the bridge and wiped out about a dozen airborne in the process. What a rush and what a way to end the season.

Achtung! If you plan on attending the MAPS air show we will have to all meet at the same time and place in order to get into the air show. As of this writing I do not have the time and place yet, so watch your email. I will be relaying the info as soon as I find out. Hope to see you all there.

Reickert, Oberjäger und Gruppenführer

2./GJR 100