This is it.

As the last echoes died away,Major Allman could see the smiles on the faces of his men, they got to their feet and shared cigarettes and cheeky grins. All around them the dead and wounded were getting to their feet, whilst the Umpires huddled together looking important.
    The mood didn`t last long as nco s called the men to order.

    General Odd called them all to gather round whilst he thanked them for their part in the exercise and went on to warn them that it had all been a bit of a disaster and lessons would be learned and further drills introduced.
       I leave you all to go back over your actions and inactions this day and answer this question.
  What could you do?

Action this Day

Nine o clock came and went, half past, then ten o clock. The men had dug in to protect the bridge, brewed up and were waiting.
   Just before half past ten, the sound of heavy vehicle engines could be heard approaching from Freezingham.
      Still no sign of the Airborne forces from the direction of Littletown, instead the form of an armoured car could be glimpsed through the hedges, cautiously approaching.
     Fingers tightened on triggers as the first of the infantry came creeping towards Major Allmans position.

     The British commanders were obviously uncertain, from Freezingham came the first of the armour, a light tank, a Vickers mk 4, obviously intending to flush out the defenders whilst the infantry suuport was poised to exploit that knowledge and heavier armour waited in reserve.

      The littletown commander had the opposite approach and a screen of infantry came sweeping across the countryside, covered by the turrets of what appeared to be two Rolls armoured cars.

Major Allmans men sighted their weapons on the approaching forces, helmet straps were given a final tightening and looks of good luck flashed around the group.

A very light lit the sky to signal the attack and then the sound of a whistle, reminding many of their days in the trenches, waiting to go over the top.

0830 Hrs Situation report.

      Using every hard earned skill of fieldcraft at their disposal, the two parties on the West bank made their way forward.

Expecting, at any moment, to hear a challenge from the sentry, or a rifle shot from the tower.

.The Sentry seemed oblivious to their approach, Major Allman could not believe his luck.

      They were within a long Grenades throw of what they could now see was an improvised pillbox, when the sentry seem to stir himself and gaze straight into Major Allmans face.

All fingers took up first pressure on the trigger. This was where it began.

Colonel Anthony Fortescue Ret`d. had in fact not seen them.

Something in the way the early morning sun was glistening on the river took him back to his days in The Frontier Defence Force, keeping watch on the Nile for some Mad Mullah or other. Now he was a private in the Littletown Home Guard tasked with protect another frontier against the forces of some other mad man who wanted to destroy the Empire.           

Something else caught his eye and he glanced downward to see three German Sailors at the loopholes,

mindful of orders to make`` his bullet`` count.  He shouted out the traditional` Who goes there?``, and before any response could come``, Call out the Guard ,Jerries!`

                                                                                    

 It was just enough,

 each of the three sailors dropped their grenades,,  giving RSM Durrington time to put down his mug of tea, grab his rifle and unbolt the door, before three more grenades dropped through the loopholes, killing his squad instantly. 

He had barely time to register the fact and see that the field telephone was u.s. before yet more grenades dropped at his feet.

This time there was no escape.

Private Fortescue`s challenge was answered by a burst of smg fire from behind the hedge, ducking back he heard the grenades go off beneath his feet, he looked out of a crack, sighted on his target and pulled the trigger.

He made his bullet count and the attacker fell, now it would be cold steel.

The enemy had no such restrictions and another burst from another sub machine gun, plus rifles, had him keeping his head well down, his attention still on the enemy outside when two sailors burst through the roof hatch behind him and he was soon their prisoner.

For him this war was over,but next time.

                                                                                               

The flanking party had meantime reached the road, leaving two men to watch the approaches they turned their attention to the bridge, the engineer party hurried forward with their charges.

     Ted Cooper, was having his breakfast, prior to starting the milking when he heard the explosions and went outside to see what the fuss was about.
 Rifle shots from the junction whistling about his ears, soon told him,
Rushing back into the house, he spent a frustrating five minutes attempting to raise the local switchboard, to warn of the invasion.  The damned girl was asleep again, he reckoned, that or gossiping.                                        

                                  

   Leaving his wife to report, he grabbed his pitchfork, and set off in the shelter of the hedgerow, determined to take at least one with him.

     The major was beginning to worry, he had failed to take the bridge silently, and by now alarm bells would be ringing all along the coast road. There was no news from Lt Neuman`s party, total silence from that side of the river in fact

  

The Lt. had approached the bunker with extreme caution, there seemed to be no sign of the enemy beyond the barbed wire, no sentry, no sound, nothing at all.

Suspecting a trap,he edged closer, The wire was cut, with what seemed an almighty crash, but no response.

Creeping closer still, he peered into the bunker.

Inside was.. nothing but an old telegraph post, sticking out of the embrasure, threatening nothing and obviously not worth defending.   Leaving three men to hold the site,he led the rest to join up with the bridge party

With both ends of the bridge now in his hands,the major set his men to work digging in and preparing defences against the enemy forces he expect to soon come pouring along the road,whilst the Engineers wired the explosive charges,should it prove neccessary to blow the bridge.

He was not prepared for the direction of the first attack, as down river came,first the sound and then the reality of the River patrol;

A flurry of shots from his men on the Bridge, soon settled the issue, but he knew the next attack would not be so easy. Where oh where were those damned airborne troops?

The Games Afoot.

Having successfully evaded the naval patrols at the mouth of the river, Major Allman and his team made their way up river. They saw no further signs of enemy presence until within sight of the bridge the silhouette of a sentry on the roof of the old toll house made them draw their rubber dinghies into the banks and disembark.
        Somewhere along the journey contact had been lost with Sgt Kessler and his squad. A change in plans was needed, and they hadn`t yet made contact with the enemy.
   Redividing his force Major Allman led the assault on the bridge whilst Lt Neuman with the engineers swung wide to the West to cut the road and prevent any attack on that flank. Lt Schmidt was somewhere on the East bank, tasked with seizing and neutralising the Gun position on the hill commanding the river approaches. Once neutralised it would provide a good strongpoint on his own flank against any force advancing from Freezingham. linking up with the main force at the bridge.Before

The Bridge over the River Tiddle

That Gentlemen of The Kreigsmarine 17th Special Operations Unit is your target
       
.The Coast road will enable the enemy to bring forces against the flank of our invasion forces,
 Between Freezingham and  Littletown on Sea, where the road swings inland lies the River Tiddle, crossed by a single bridge within 10 miles of the coast .Further to the West lies the River Verre with a road and rail bridge in close proximity, That will be the responsibility of the Airborne forces who will land shortly after you and can be expected to link up with you by lunchtime having cleared the area between the two rivers of all enemy resistance.
     

Your task is to seize the bridge at first light, prepare it for demolition, should that be necessary to protect our flank, and Hold until relieved.
     Our agents, who supplied the attached map and photographs, reports that the bridge is only lightly held by units of The LDV. but both Freezingham and Littletown have garrisons of regular troops with some light armour in support.
            Good Luck Major Allman ,I will leave you and your 30 companions to make your detailed plans.
      A U-Boat has been made available to land you on the coast at 0200 hrs giving you 3 hours to make your way to your attack positions.

Encounter at Exbury.....

The germans had spotted something new on aerial photos - an installation near Exbury in Hampshire.  Attempts by Smith the spy to get close enough failed due to the presence of too many troops and road blocks. After much deliberation it was decided to send a small expedition to land and get the intelligence needed....

---oXo---

An E-boat came in close to land as it could and a small german commando group in inflatables had made its way part way up the river Beaulieu and landed .....

 A home guard patrol nearby ....

 The germans make their way inland towards the installation ....

 A home guard patrol hearing the firing rush up to help, but get taken out by german SMG fire .....

The home guard try and get at the germans in the next field ....

 The home guard lose a man and get pinned down behind the hedge by german LMG fire ...

The germans come through the gap and some more of the home guard go down ....

Meanwhile the officer can see the installation from the low above and is taking some pictures and making notes....

 British regulars are coming up and some are about to man the pill box .... the german officer sees them and signals the withdrawal

 The germans head back to their boats....

---oXo---

After a tricky paddle down the river the Germans find the E-boat waiting for them ... they head out past the Isle of Wight and back to France just missing some naval patrols ... they have the intelligence they need ... they believe it is a special low-level radar installation (?) ....

At Christchurch harbour ...

Henry Smith (german spy) had established himself in Poole as a travelling sales man. He had made some contacts with the local black market - useful for items he needed that weren't readily available and also for scraps of information. 

Smith headed out on one of regular information gathering journies, this day he had gone to Christchurch. He made his way down towards the harbour, had a quick chat with the owner of a local Inn.  As he was chatting he spotted something of great interest...

Security was lax, just a couple of home guard, but to be careful he pottered down to an adjacent stone jetty to ask the way from one of the home guard sentries ...

While there he got a good eyeful - an MTB - that had put in for some running repairs and a bit of fuel.

Smith thanked the home guard sentry for the directions and made his way of off the key and into the town. The presence of MTBs along this stretch of the coast would have to go in his next radio transmission. He would have to find out where they were based and how many - a job for another day he mused ......