Volume 1 Chapter 9: Operation WestWind Part 1

(AU: the real Operation WestWind was a German counteroffensive in which they tried to break the Allied push in the region of Alsace-Lorraine and strike the rear of the 3rd American Army. Part of the Battle of the Bulge).

AU: I apologize, the German war college war called the Kriegsschule and not whatever I called it earier. 4/20/21

AU: IM SORRY. I GOT CAUGHT UP READING MANAG AND I FORGOT TO POST. FORGIVE ME 4/21/21

August 25th, 1941

First invasion staging area, FrankReich

"Any word from Berlin?"

"Not yet."

"Keep listening."

The forward headquarters for the 1st army group was awaiting the orders to attack.

"Sir! Green light given!"

Marshal Kruger leaned forward into an intercom.

"Operation WestWind is a go."

On the field local commanders and generals all received the orders.

"Move out!"

General Rommel of the 7th panzer division orders his Panzer IIIs to move forward.

A large clearing was made in the Atlantikwal. There were no plans to go past it since beyond used to be water. Now that there was land they were forced blasted through some of the structures to clear pathways for the armies.

Army composition:

(In descending order by size)

(A numbers besides name equal the one above)

(AU: again, very difficult to research exact details but this is my version).

Army group

3 Army

3 Corp

12 Division

9 Battalion

3 Regiment

3 Company

3 Platoon

3 Squad: about 8-12 men

The armored regiments followed by mechanized and motorized infantry poured through the gaps.

At the second staging area a large camp was constructed to house all now 24 divisions.

Reconnaissance air, land and sea missions were starting to head out to scout the land.

________________________________________

Several days before the invasion

Modified Heinkel He 111 bomber was lazing in the atmosphere when its spotter called out in alarm.

"Alert! Huge mass of soldiers directly under us!"

"Mark this place on the map!"

The commander barked at the navigator who made a note on a map which was strapped to the floor.

This bomber was part of an air reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence about enemy movements and formations. The small 5 man crew consisted of a navigations expert, spotter, two pilots and a commander.

They soared past the soldier concentration and headed north.

They were approaching a large fortress city when a beam of blue light arced up and was climbing to reach them.

The commander spotted the light and screamed at this pilots. Then all personnel grabbed the side anchors and braced for a lift.

The pilots jerked the Heinkel He 111 up and they rose in a steep climb.

The altimeter started rising as well.

"3000, 3500, 4000."

The commander counted the numbers as they kept flying higher.

Suddenly the light exploded into blue icicle shards.

Majority of them missed but a few hit the plane's exoskeleton.

Holes appeared where the shards penetrated the outer fuselage and splintered inside the plane.

"Auuugh!"

The spotter was wounded.

"Shit more incoming!"

The commander spotted three more arcs. Two of them exploded behind their plane while the last one exploded an engine.

"Plane hit! We are losing altitude!"

The co-pilot screamed to those in the back.

The commander shouted into his intercom and radioed headquarters.

"Mayday! Mayday! Reconnaissance He 111 34 shot down. Requesting support!"

The pilot struggled to maintain control over the plane which was losing altitude.

"Equip parachutes!"

The three in the back grabbed the closest parachutes. The pilots steeled themselves to eject with ejector seats (AU: first released in 1940 in the USA, provided with the Lend-Lease).

The altimeter read 2000 km and quickly was resending.

"Shit! Eject, jump!"

The door was kicked open and the three in the back jumped out after grabbing whatever they could lay their hands on. The pilots ejected as well.

A flaming mass of steel rocketed towards the fortress which had shot them down. In a twist of irony the Heinkel He 111 hit the outer wall and collapsed a part of the gate.

Five parachutes were slowly descending. The spotter was bleeding too much in his hastily attached harness.

Nobody notice them as they landed in a wooded forest. They guessed that parachutes were an unknown concept as wyvern riders usually fell to their deaths if their mount was killed.

The commander and his squad landed and checked what they had on them.

All five had military daggers and the navigator had a small first aid kit he stole from the burning plane they jumped out of. They total had three pistols, two were pilot issues and the commander issued one. The spotter however had several grenades in his back belt which were with him in case he needed to destroy documents.

The navigator finished bandaging the stomach wound suffered by the spotter.

"Sir, where the hell are we?"

"Let's take a look."

The commander took out the salvaged map and a compass out. He drew a few lines with his finger and exclaimed.

"We are about two hundred kilometers from base. Its not a horrible number as that's a four day walk. However we do not know this terrain nor the dangers of the wild here."

The four others nodded. They understood the danger that they were in.

"The best option is to disguise ourselves and enter the fortress. Since there is no language barrier we can converse discreetly. Once we stock a bit then we can head back to headquarters."

The commander continued. Several of the crew objected.

"Sir, why would we walk right into the enemies' fort? That's suicide!"

"Neumann, calm down. Its the best option. Braun is injured. We need to treat him fast."

Neumann the co-pilot calmed down. Next to him his superior airman Klaus Richter put his hand in his right shoulder.

"Hasso, calm down. The commander is right you know."

The name piece of the commander's uniform was peeling off. The jump had damaged the sewing and a breeze of wind blew it off. The name Lars Walter could be read as it flew off.

The survivors of the crash then traveled though the dense wooded forest and reached a dirt road. The uniform of the commander was a bit conspicuous, however they still donned their heavy coats and light colored pants to protect against atmospheric coldness.

However they ripped out all insignias, ranks, metals, cloths, anything which makes them conspicuous.

They walked until they reached the large walls of the fortress city. The guard was severely diminished since majority of them were fighting the fires caused by the airplane fuel which was in their tank and extra disposable tanks which extended the He 111s range.

There was one guard on duty and approached the five men as they approached. He noticed their heavy coats despite the warm summer.

"Hey you five, what's with the coats."

The commander Walter answered.

"We are not from this city, we come from a rural village out there."

He waved in the direction he came from.

"Ah, the Bloody Forest? You guys from the Trumium Village?"

"Yes, we were stuck in a cave we were exploring and our mate here got injured."

He waved at the poorly done bandages on Braun.

"Ah I see. Any documentations of proof?"

"Abandoned in our bags inside the cave. Those creatures got us."

"Understandable. They are poisonous, you better treat that man quickly."

"What's happening there?"

The commander pointed to the plumes of dark smoke coming from the burning buildings.

"The grand mage stationed here shot some dragon down. It responded with this fire magical attack."

"Pity for those caught in the fire."

"Pity indeed."

The guard stepped aside and let the men in.

The men walked in to streets which were empty due to a evacuation from the sections close to the fire. The men had free rein to steal as much as possible due to the chaos caused by the fire.

They men entered a partially burned house and placed Braun on the group in a safe spot. Then the pilots drew daggers and pistols and ran house to house.

They avoided soldiers and civilians who were leaving their houses. They stole money, and food from the least likely of places to find them.

Hasso and Klaus entered a small two story house. Hasso and Klaus had daggers and pistols drawn. After securing that they were indeed alone they rummaged through what they could find.

More coins and salted meat were uncovered. They didn't take jewelry nor anything else to avoid suspicion if someone identified something that they stole. It was hard to identify food and coins.

The second floor didn't have much to offer.

The next house however has a armed guard in the front. Several other guards were inside and looting the house.

"Hey that's our job!"

"Cut that out, we are enemy soldiers. They are the Kingdom's soldiers. It makes a difference when we or them rob."

The two crept around the house to the back. A small window was blown open, probably from the impact of the bomber.

They carefully entered the house. They saw the two guards going through the cupboards and drawers while talking to one another.

Hasso motioned to his friend who flanked from the left. Hasso looked around. This seemed to be a bedroom. He laid on the mattress and then stepped on a piece of glass intentionally.

Crack

One of the guards looked up. The other one didn't seem to notice.

Without his comrade the other one walked into the room with Hasso. Hasso quickly threw his arm around the man's mouth and stabbed his neck where the spine connected with the brain while falling onto the mattress.

The cushion of straw and leather masked their noise.

After twisting the dagger to cut the spinal cords and nerves the man died.

He was covered in blood. As he pushed the corpse off of him. He took the soldier's helmet and up it on. While imitating the pitch of the soldier's voice he called out to the other soldier.

"Hey hey look at this! What a beauty of a girl this one is. Check it out guys!"

At this both the outside guard and the one inside perked up. They both rushed to the back room where Hasso was.

Then Klaus burst through a door on the right side of the guard who entered and he stabbed him across his neck.

The noise made the other guard turn around in which Hasso then grabbed him from behind and cut his throat.

Both men fell to the ground as the two Germans finished them off.

While looting the corpses they discovered their names, positions and ranks of the dead men (AU: from letters from home they had or other items which signaled rank). Hasso flipped over the map which Neumann had before and wrote down all of the information. They then stripped the three of all equipment and changed into them.

A fully equipped Hasso ran to fetch Neumann who was with Braun and the commander.

No one batted an eye to see Hasso run with full equipment to the burned down district.

After almost getting shot by commander Walter he brought Neumann to the house where they all memorized their new identities and wore equipment.

The three then took the stolen money and food back to their hideout where they sated their hunger. It was agreed to ration the food. Mead was the only drink they could find so they drank that.

Being Germans they had high tolerances to alcohol than the average human.

"This shit is nasty."

"Its better than nothing."

The commander and Hasso exchanged a few words. Neumann was using the mead to cleanse the wounds of Braun who was semi-delirious.

"He's not going to last."

"He has too. He is our spotter and I don't know anyone else who could fill his shoes to the degree he does."

After they finished treating Braun and eating the three headed out to the untouched districts of the city.

There were little presence of guards nor soldiers here so it was a bit chaotic. They went around and acted like soldiers by beating up bandits and stopping fights.

Once a lady running a small shop asked them why there weren't fighting the fire Klaus responded with how they needed to watch over 'useless peasants'. This went surprisingly well with the lady as some protection was any protection during the crisis.

They bought a map of the nearby lands and bought food which could last long periods of time.

No one paid them much attention as the fire was still raging.

They stuffed several bags of items needed to travel and they made it back to their hideout.

"We need to leave before the fire dies out."

"Affirmative."

The five then snuck to an abandoned stable. Inside were several carts and horses. The front building was still on fire and the horses were suffocating. They harnessed a four w horses and stole a wagon. The other horses were released to cause more chaos behind them.

They threw all of the equipment inside along with many other stolen goods like carpets and blankets and rode back to the checkpoint where they entered.

By now the fire was starting to be controlled as they rode up to the gate.

"Halt!"

They stopped.

The guard from earlier was there along with another new guard.

"Show identification to leave."

Hasso pulled his stolen badge out. The other two also showed them.

Since they knew the commander's face he was not in disguise but rather hidden under the carpets with Braun.

"Benedict, why are you leaving the city?"

"We were ordered to bring these supplies to the soldiers in front of the burning gate. They suffered many injuries."

While the two conversed the other guard Axium checked their cart.

He walked around and looked at everything. He didn't really pay much attention so he gave up mid-way.

Then the guard gave them clearance and they took off.

They circled until the guards were out of view and then the beelined to the forest.

"Whew! I thought my heart was going to pop."

Hasso exclaimed while taking the helmet off.

"I still cannot believe that worked! If this was Germany or France, we would have got caught."

They crew laughed as they rode off to the south.

________________________________________

The wagon halted next to a pasture parallel to the dirt road.

Four of the men got out leaving Braun behind.

Klaus pulled a pack of cigarettes from his back pockets and put the unlit cigarette in his mouth.

Walter leaned over and took one as well.

Klaus pulled a lighter from his breast pocket and cupped his left hand over the cigarette.

After a few seconds of lighting the cigarette caught fire. He then lit Walter's cigarette. Both men took long drags.

"Shit. How much longer until we reach the base?"

"Two days more or less."

"Goddamn."

They stockpiled (stole) a lot of supplies. However even that was being used up at high rates.

They were rationing but it wasn't enough to last the full trip.

"We are going to need to stock up again. We still have the armor and spare currency."

"But sir, we don't know where to go to even find a settlement."

Walter stopped. He pulled the map out again once more and studied it. He drew a finger line from their approximate location to a single line which marked the approximate date invasion path.

"Let's try and link up with the invasion then. If we run into any enemies then we will just blend in until we reach friendly lines."

Klaus nodded. He then wakes to Hasso to inform him.

A mischievous grin appeared on his face. He was getting addicted to the spy thrill of life behind enemy lines.

Then they mounted the wagon once more and took off.

————————————————

Three days earlier

August 25th, 1941

Staging area two

Rommel inspected lines of tanks and mechanized vehicles.

They were to head out in a hour. The fortress city of Eruk was their objective. They were to take it within a week.

"Sir, the 2nd Tiger Battalion arrived."

"Good. They will spearhead our attack."

Rommel planned to send heavy tanks and mechanized infantry forward and spot enemies. If any were found then medium and light tanks and motorized will flank the sides and encircle the enemy.

Once they pathway to the fort has been cleared a light barricade would be positioned with dummy infantry. Hopefully this causes the enemy to abandon their posts in hopes of an easy victory.

This would be a trap as artillery and tanks would then hammer the barricades and annihilate the enemy without casualties.

Rommel hopes that the enemy would fall for it. He didn't want to resort to a siege.

If that was the case he would use dive bombers to preform precision bombings in which breaching tanks would be rolled to the gates.

Rommel checked his watch once more. 5 minutes to the attack.

He waited and watched as the hatches of the tanks opened to reveal numerous tank commanders. They all saluted Rommel who returned the salute.

Then Rommel's watch chimed, it was time.

He picked up an intercom;

"Begin the advance!"

The idling tanks started blazing to life and the rumble of engines echoed.

The tanks were stationed on a small hill so the tanks rolled down an incline.

From his high up position Rommel could see other divisions besides his 7th rolling in their respective zones.

He smiled, the fist of the German people were coming towards hostile land. He hasn't seen so much armored movement since the French Blitz.

Then he closed his hatch and motioned his Panzer IV forward.

They drove for several hours and made a camp in the halfway mark between the second staging area and their destination.

As the men were digging in and pitching tents. The sentry on duty spotted a wagon approaching. An alarm spread through the camp as men flooded the trenches and tanks roared to life.

"Identify yourselves!"

Silence.

Then a voice called out.

"34th reconnaissance 4th recon flight wing, Unteroffizier Las Walter! We have wounded! Permission to approach?"

"Denied!"

"Granted."

The sentry turned to see who called out.

Before he was able to speak he stopped to salute.

General Erwin Rommel was standing right behind him. His order overruled his own.

The wagon rolled forward into it stopped short of the general.

Four men got out of the wagon and saluted. An injured fifth man struggled to salute in the wagon.

"Unteroffizier Walter, take this man to the infirmary."

"Jawohl!"

Walter threw Braun's right arm around his neck and the sentry took Braun's left. They hurried him to a white tent toward the back of the camp.

Long trenches circled the perimeter of the camp in where soldiers could be stationed in case of an attack.

Soldiers killed around and cleaned weapons. Tank crews maintained their vehicles.

The smells of food wafted from the field kitchens.

The general questioned the remaining three and they told his their story.

Rommel laughed when they explained how they stole items and pretended to be soldiers at the fort city.

"Quite the story you got there. The stolen armor on that wagon checks out. You."

He pointed as Hasso.

"You smell like shit and blood. Get to the field showers."

"Jawohl!!!"

The three were dismissed. They ran off to get to the showers.

The general pondered. A hole in the gate created by the burning bomber? A quarter of the city burned down? Things could not be better for him.

He motioned for his aide to come to him.

"Change of plans. We are blitzing the flank of the city and pushing them into the burned city district. That way they will have no cover. If they try to escape through the hole in the wall, hit them with medium tanks."

"Affirmative."

The aide made a mental note and backed off. The general inspected a few more items inside of the wagon. Food from this world, their drinks, textiles, even currency. These survivors brought back with them a treasure trove.

Even the horses could be dissected to learn about anatomy in this world.

"Send this wagon and all items back to headquarters in France. Tell them to run all tests on everything staying that this was captured items from this land."

A few guards went and secured the wagon and took it to the rear where it would be transported to France.

"My first mission in this world will be a great success at this rate."

The General then strolled back to his quarters.