Session 7 – Arnhem Sector, British 1^st Airborne Division

Last session, 2^nd Platoon made a heroic charge across open ground in the face of armed enemy opposition. Rhys killed in cold blood and so did Wickersham. Kingsley saw good men fall in battle because of his decisions and gained positive confirmation that Arnhem Road Bridge is not yet wired with explosives. After his cold-blooded killings last session, Rhys spirals into nihilism.

Day 1 – 17 September 1944 – 2207 hrs.

A Bad Start

In the big picture, not a hell of a lot happened – sorry 1^st Lt. Kingsley – the first session was great for you, this one, not so much. For Cpl. Rhys, in particular, and for L/Cpl. Wickersham too, this is their defining session.

After the meeting with Kingsley, Rhys heads up to the fourth floor and spots a couple of Germans moving through the close under the building opposite them, to the east. He pops the pin on a grenade and throws it through the window at them, killing them in the confined space below. He stands there, observing their fate in a completely detached way. The Germans in the opposite building start shooting back after the detonation and Rhys, lingering in the window, takes fire.

Rhys withdraws out of the flat and into the hallway, not hurt; but, more wound up than before. He encounters L/Cpl. Johnson and Pvt. Thornburg in the hall. They notice him but pretend they don’t. They know he killed those Germans in cold blood and they haven’t come to terms with it. So Rhys leaves them behind without a word and heads off in search of Sgt. Powell, who was missing from the 2^nd Platoon staff meeting last session. Johnson and Thornburg are more than happy to see him go.

Poor Choices

Rhys heads south and then east through the outer ring of the apartment complex. Then, he hears a heavy German accent speaking in English. He briefly listens in at the door and deduces that the Germans have a British prisoner and are interrogating him. So Rhys kicks in the door.

There are three German soldiers in the room along with Sgt. Powell. A German officer is interrogating Powell and a NCO is covering Powell with a rifle. The other German, who is supposed to be covering the door with his SMG, is actually paying more attention to the interrogation. So, Rhys gets the drop on them.

Rhys steps in and fires on the SMG-toting guard, killing him where he stands. A few haphazard shots are fired back, causing Rhys stress. The Germans are stunned by the sudden interruption. Rhys fixes his bayonet. Powell seizes the opportunity and tackles the NCO guarding him while Rhys readies himself to spear the officer.

Rhys stabs the officer with fixed bayonet and the officer falls down, wounded, but not finished. Rhys is completely absorbed, so I have his player roll for Powell, who is fighting for his life, unarmed, against an armed enemy without any help from Rhys. Rhys’ player blows the roll.

Rhys hears the sounds of Powell’s life being extinguished but feet from him while, totally aloof, he stares down the German officer in front of him, who is fumbling for his own pistol. Rhys clears his mind for a moment and wheels around. The German that killed Powell is standing on top of him, knife drawn and covered in Powell’s blood. Rhys spears him and, in return, is shot in the back by the German officer.

Stunned, Rhys pauses. The German officer, in poor shape himself, let’s his gun arm fall to the ground in exhaustion. Rhys turns around, one slow, leaden footfall after the other. The officer is paralytic. With the last of his strength, Rhys lunges toward the German officer and buries his bayoneted rifle into the German’s skull. Then he collapses on top of the German. Rhys is down for the count.

A Worse End to an Already Bad Day

Meanwhile, Wickersham is making his rounds and he heads up to the fourth floor. There, he encounters Johnson and Thornburg. He asks where Rhys is and they dismissively point, “Over there, by himself.” Bobby shames them into coming with him in search of Rhys and they reluctantly follow. They hear the gunshots and the ensuing struggle coming from down the hall and rush to help.

When Wickersham gets there, he sees five bodies and one of them is Rhys. Bobby quickly checks to see if anyone’s alive: Rhys is hanging on; but, he’s critical. Everyone else is finished.

Bobby stabilizes Rhys with a successful medic roll. This is where the two characters really clicked, the scene they had in the previous session after Rhys had just killed his second lot of unarmed Germans and Wickersham had just induced fatal bleeding in his patient was just foreplay. I don’t think I can do it justice in my dry exposition, so I’ll leave it to your imagination. In summary, Rhys had a bit of an emotional meltdown and Wickersham did his damndest to keep it together himself; but, wasn’t; entirely successful either. In the end, they bonded, big time.

In parting, Bobby wants Rhys to retire to the field hospital to get real medical treatment and away from the stress of combat. Rhys asserts that he’s fine, even though he clearly isn’t and they are left at an impasse. Rhys ultimately guilts/calls Wickersham’s bluff, so Bobby leaves Rhys there while Johnson and Thornburg scrounge for “food and medical supplies” in the adjacent flats. Wickersham doesn’t press the issue; but, returns to Kingsley with Powell’s dog tag instead.

Administrivia

When Wickersham meets up with Kingsley, Kingsley is busy reorganizing his platoon. Bobby informs him of Powell’s death and Kingsley runs down his mental list of assault squad’s corporals for acting sergeant duty. Rhys is Kingsley’s first choice. Bobby tells him that Rhys is barely holding on to his sanity and is unfit for such a duty. So Kingsley assesses the situation. I give him the pros and cons of the two corporals available to him and he chooses the one who thinks better on his feet for the job, passing over the assistant squad leader and Rhys, who are both senior.

In the background, Kingsley consolidated 2^nd Platoon’s gains and is poised to oust the Germans from the apartment complex. It’s now the wee hours of day 2.

It was a short session. That’s where we left it.