Cap, George, Leo, Lou and Doc all put their heads together today and decided we're on a rescue mission. Guess who got left out. Then, predictably, orders came down the line.
We're on a tight schedule to take over a campful of POWs before another group of POWs comes through enroute to Lublin. I had a madhouse day working on the OT and BMP while others filled our fuel trailer, spare drums, set up security details and did some last minute shopping. Alphabit scored some white paint for me so I marked up my OT. Christened it the "Damnation Alley" after that mini-series I saw way back when. Still no Tommygun.
The officers spent the day crunching logistics. I could have skipped the BMP work. Our Bump is a thirsty beast. It would gulp down the same ammount of fuel as our OT, the 2-1/2 and the other OT our firends liberated. Even with a second fuel trailer we would have been cutting it close. Instead we're taking all wheels.
Even though we'll be gone, Cap has Arun and jana straw-bossing the workers. She's leaving them with enough script to cover a two week trip. Arun's supposed to get some security together as well, bue we're not leaving desirable behind.
Early start tomorrow.
Eddie's Jounral, August 19th, 2000
Cap's having me add a logo to the truck. I christen thee the "Red Shift Special".
All day on the road. We went east out of Krakow following the river road. Saw more than our share of refugees heading west. Decided to pass them by. Turns out we shouldn't have becasue pretty soon we saw thick smoke rising in the distance.
We slowed our approach. Found a good hidey spot and dismounted Lou and Leo. They did a foot sweep to see what's the matter. Lou radioed back that they had a large group of men and a T-72 heading out north from a burning village. We waited till they were gone, disapearing into a copse of trees some klicks to the north before continuing on. They'd hit that town hard. There were dead in the streets and buildings burning.
We found the same in another town many klicks further up the road. Except much older. Lou says maybe a week.
Cap kept working her jaw, but didn't say anything.
Once we diverted north into the hills, you can't call this mountains, the trip was uneventful. We just had to divert around one site and do a little off-road work.
Cap figures we're within 10 klicks of the camp. Lou and George are going to stretch their legs in the morning.
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Llewellyn Chilson, August 19th, 2000
"Yeah, Leo go ahead and pack that long arm of yours. Cap, I'll take George as well. You any good at sneakin'?"
"Good enough, not at light on..."
"Look George, I don't care what you heard about me at the commisary or the barracks, but Mama Chilson didn't raise no poof."
"Er, ok. Yeah, I'm plenty good at sneaking."
Spook boy can't take a joke. I trust Leo to have his shit straight. Not bad for a rooskie, but George, I double check his kit. For a desk jockey he's got it all laid out right and tamped down properly. No battle rattle from him. We'll see how he moves on the trail. I'll turn this car around if he fucks up. No regrets.
We head out into the morning mists. Ten klicks to the camp if Cap's done the navigating right. If the map's any good. If George is right about where it is in the first place. Lots of ifs. I could stop and ask directions, but I don't feel like killing some crapsack farmer today.
Close to four hours when we clear the woods. I am mighty pleased that this car didn't get turned around. And all the "ifs" turned out right. Across the roadway a spur climbs up into the hills. Bit of woodsmoke on the wind and the faint sound of a generator chugging away. That's a big one if we can hear it from here. We wait and watch.
Between the three of us we pick out a number of OPs scattered about. They've got the approaches well covered on this side of the camp. Their field craft is crap. Or they're feeling safe. Either way, bonus points to us.
George is playing cartographer while Leo and I work our jaws. He figures we can head off east a ways and cross the road. Use that big stretch of woods to get closer. It'll put us a little behind schedule, but hell, I didn't come this far not to get a good look.
The camp keeps partols closer in. We hear them a long ways off. Lousy noise discipline. One almost stumbles over us in the woods. Clumsy, stupid fuckers. We stalk them back to the trail they're using. Wait as they continue on out then follow their back trail in. Fast, clean, and even George keeps it up. Trail splits once, heading out to another OP on the wood's east end, before coming to an end. And what a view we have.
George gets busy with his pencils. Leo keeps an eye out. I count heads. We'll work this out once we're back with the Captain, but I'm not feeling good with this.
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| "Alright, we approached from the south. They have a checkpoint in that cluster of buildings at the crossroads. We could see a few sentry posts. George marked them 'S' instead of OP like he should have. Hills and large stretches of woods all around. The camp itself is surrounded by grain fields, but they've got clear fields of fire all around the perimeter. There's doubtless more OPs on the other side of the camp. We'll find them on another trip." |
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| "Here's the set-up Cap. Perimeter is double chain-link filled with concertina wire. We got 5 watchtowers with MGs (brown corner aquares with the black lines). Looks like a good size mortar battery (the circles), 2 large barracks buildings and some small outbuildings (brown rectangles). That black square is a concrete bunker. The other black building is sheet metal. POW housing is in the tents (green). Orange cross-hatching indicates gardens. The squiggly black lines are power transmission wires. They have some sort of production facility in there. Just south of the concrete bunker is a generator building, 3 tanks for fuel storage and 3 covers for stills. We observed 5 deuce and a halfs, 2 BMPs amd a fricking tank. The tank seems to be down for maintenance, they've got the engine pulled apart Finally the stream cuts through the corner of the camp." |
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