[WWII/TS/Covert Ops/Weird War II] Götterdämmerung on Walpurgisnacht

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Does anyone know of an RPG supplement or perhaps another source where I could find detailed equipment loadouts of WWII paratroopers that I could cannibalise and use with minor modifications for the assault troops?

I'm looking for something RPG-friendly, with weights for individual items and everything fairly easily equated to a piece of GURPS-ian equipment, to reduce my workload for the game tomorrow.*

I'm particularly interested in Fallschirmjäger loadouts, post their harness redesign. Also loadouts for Waffen-SS commandos and special forces, i.e. Jagdverbande and SS-Fallschirmjägerbataillon 500/600.

Loadouts for Allied commandos, OSS Operational Groups, Jedburghs, SOE men or paratroopers would also be nice.

*Because I've now spent most of the day I had allocated for game preparation hung over reading Burrough's Pellucidar novels. What? No! There is absolutely no truth to any rumour you may have heard that Nazis will once more ride dinosaurs!

Nothing in the GURPS WWII series online? Tactical Shooting has a list of weapons and ammo.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Nothing in the GURPS WWII series online? Tactical Shooting has a list of weapons and ammo.

Yeah.

Weapons and ammo is a fairly easy part. I can swap individual weapons in and out of any loadouts with just a few modications. I'm talking about all the other stuff. Clothes, load-bearing gear, belts, boots, canteens, maps, binoculars, whitles, compasses, knives, entrenching tools, helmets and any and all other gear that might be carried by paratroops making an assault where they might have to wait a day or so until they are relieved.

[Icelander]

The PCs are an advance team that were inserted into Berlin earlier than the assault. They have the codename Percival.

Major Alexander Thornton-Reed / SS-Sturmbannführer Ernst Hauser (33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1)) (WIA).
Captain Jean-Marie Reynard / SS-Sturmbannführer und Kriminalrat Hans Lange (SD and Gestapo).
Lieutenant Siegfried Rosen / SS-Obersturmbannführer Siegfried Adler (SD) (WIA).
Lieutenant Elizabeth Victoria Felicity 'Lizzie' St. Clair / Hauptführerin Katrina Kötterheinrich (SS-Helferinnenkorps).
Sub-Lieutenant Jock Sweeney / Stabfeldwebel Kurt Bauer.
Starszy Sierzant Jan Wojcik / Volkssturmmann Jan Raab (WIA).
Havildar Kharak Bahadur Rai / Gefreiter Beniamino Aldighieri (33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1); late of the 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (italienische Nr.1)).
Hermann Fegelein / Unteroffizier Hermann Ritter (Heer Reserve and SS-Untersturmführer of the Allegemeine-SS) (MIA).

Codename Lancelot: In addition to the PCs, there is an SAS element at the Olympiastadion, which will make its way to the target area. The cover for the SAS men is that they are soldiers of the Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS "Charlemagne" and they are notifying local defenders of a supply drop from a Luftwaffe plane overhead. The element consists of four SAS enlisted men; one Belgian (Flemish), one Belgian (Wallonian) (WIA), one Welsh (WIA) and one German (Jewish) (former member of SIG) (MIA), and two officers. The communication specialist and W/T operator is one Flight Lieutenant Christopher Lee and the commander of the element is Captain Herbert Cecil Buck (KIA).

Codename Merlin: If all goes well, the SAS element ought to receive reinforcements of six men dropped along with the supplies. These six men consist of a small SAS team (one German Jewish former SIG soldier and two Free French enlisted men from 2 SAS) led by Captain Jack William Raymond Lee escorting a SOE officer, Lt. George Langelaan (MIA) and a sick old man with a wicked reputation (MIA) pressed into service as an SOE agent.

Codename Gawain: A reinforced platoon of 50 (29 WIA/MIA/KIA) anti-Nazi Germans recruited from prison camps by the OSS as part of Operation Iron Cross will make a combat parachute jump from a Ju-52 dressed as Fallschirmjäger of the 3rd Staffel of II./KG 200. They will be commanded by Major Aaron Bank , Captain James W. Wallance (KIA), Lt. H. C. Wilson (WIA) and 2nd Lt. Leonard L. Grew, in addition to their German team leaders and NCOs.

The main strike force will be delivered by four DFS 230 gliders coming in for a landing near the Brandenburger Gate, hopefully where the PCs have convinced the majority of Germans manning flak weapons not to fire at them. Each glider carries ten men, including the pilot.

I need suggestions on which real characters to place in which glider. I've got a lot of ideas in the thread, but now I need to finalise the lineup.

Glider 1 Codename Sir Kay
Commander: Col. Carl F. Eifler, OSS/OG branch; CO of the assault force.
Second Officer: Maj. Lucien E. Conein.
Intelligence Officer: (Acting Major) Moe Berg.
Mission Specialist: Lt. L. Ron Hubbard.
Pilot: Lt. or Captain OSS pilot from SO branch, probably former 1st Air Commando glider pilot.
Senior NCO of the OSS/OG branch (Demolitions expert) (KIA).
2 enlisted men of the OSS/OG branch (Machine Gunner and Assistant Gunner) (WIA and KIA).

Glider 2 Codename Galahad
Commander: Captain Charlton Ogburn, OSS/OG Branch, late of the US Army 5307th Composite Unit (provisional) (KIA).
Occult Officer: (Acting Major) Carleton S. Coon (MIA).
Mission Specialist: (Acting Lieutenant) Morris Siegel (MIA).
Supernumerary Officer: Lt. Garner Lane Hadley, USMC (new PC)
Pilot: OSS pilot (KIA).
3 enlisted OSS/OG men, veterans of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) [Merril's Marauders] (WIA and two MIA).

Glider 3 Codename Bors
Commander: Lt. Col. Paddy Mayne of the SAS; CO of British element (WIA).
Mission Specialist: Major Grady Luis McMurtry (MIA).
Pilot: Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork of the Glider Pilot Regiment.
5 SAS enlisted men (one KIA, two WIA)

Glider 4 Codename Bedivere
Commander: Major Bryan Hilton-Jones, No. 3 (X) Troop, No. 10 Commando (KIA).
Second Officer: Captain George Henry Lane, No. 3 (X) Troop, No. 10 Commando (WIA).
Mission Specialist: (Acting 2nd Lt.) Kenneth Grant, SOE (WIA).
Pilot: Sergeant of the Glider Pilot Regiment (KIA).
4 enlisted men of No. 3 (X) Troop, No. 10 Commando (3 WIA, 1 KIA).

[johndallman]

How about Kenneth Grant? In the British Army at the time, and Crowley's assistant.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

How about Kenneth Grant? In the British Army at the time, and Crowley's assistant.

Perfect. He's now an acting Second Lieutenant of the SOE, unless his rank in India was higher than that.

I still need 3 junior American officers to lead the anti-Nazi German-speakers trained for Operation Iron Cross. They need to have commando or airborne experience and to speak German at Accented or better. Occult interests are a plus, but not required, intelligence work is good, but not necessary, cool personalities or histories always welcome.

I can obviously make them up, but it's more fun if someone could suggest a historical character that would fit.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I still need 3 junior American officers to lead the anti-Nazi German-speakers trained for Operation Iron Cross. They need to have commando or airborne experience and to speak German at Accented or better. Occult interests are a plus, but not required, intelligence work is good, but not necessary, cool personalities or histories always welcome.

An good place to get them would be the remains of the Canadian-American First Special Service Force, which was disbanded in France in December 1944. There's a website with a lot of names and pictures here.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

An good place to get them would be the remains of the Canadian-American First Special Service Force, which was disbanded in France in December 1944. There's a website with a lot of names and pictures here.

Excellent.

I must say that making NPCs real historical people makes it much sadder when they are exposed to 50% or more casualties...

One glider, Bedivere, did not manage a safe landing, with all inside it becoming casualties even before the assault. And nine of the 50 enlisted men of Gawain* didn't even reach the ground without becoming casualties.

In the ensuing firefight, the assault force suffered horrendous casualties just in reaching the bunker. The three junior officers of Gawain, for example, have not yet been named, but one of them is dead, one is walking wounded and the third suffered a minor concussion. Major Aaron Bank now leads 21 effectives, out of 50. He had the assistance of Major Alexander Thornton-Reed, nominally CO of Percival, but Thornton-Reed was seriously wounded in the last few yards of assault.

Lancelot is down to two men out of six as they reach the bunker entrance. So far, the only member of Galahad to do so is the new PC, 2nd Lt. Garner Lane Hadley, with the others unaccounted for. Merlin has not made it yet and Bors has suffered severely.

The PCs are doing fairly well, all things considered.

*The force of anti-Nazi Germans trained for Operation Iron Cross.

[Polydamas]

Once its all over but the triage/crash of the World Tree I would be interested to hear how you handled casualties in such a large-scale firefight with named characters (or background details like which gliders were hit or crashed, and how many parachutists were shot in the air).

A 70 year old Aleister Crowley parachuting into a city with 1945 kit must be a sight to see, if anyone had time to watch and not just cower/shoot at things with too much fur.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Once its all over but the triage/crash of the World Tree I would be interested to hear how you handled casualties in such a large-scale firefight with named characters (or background details like which gliders were hit or crashed, and how many parachutists were shot in the air).

I generally estimate the chances of negative things happening, usually with reference to what else has been happening and especially how well objectives aimed at reducing the risk to them have been achieved. Then I roll a 'Reaction Roll' and a skill roll against adjusted average skill for the element*.

Having thus gained a rough idea of how the element fared, I can roll, then or later, to see how the casualties are distributed among individual members of the team. Any NPC who has Luck can use it to reduce the odds of randomised harm, which was extremely useful for Patton.**

*With the possibility of increasing the odds of success at the cost of negatively modifying the 'Reaction Roll', in a manner much like the 3e Risk roll in Mass Combat.
**Yes, he pulled rank at the last moment to come along 'as an observer'. As he said; "In war, there comes a time when the life of even a General is of no matter."

Originally Posted by Polydamas

A 70 year old Aleister Crowley parachuting into a city with 1945 kit must be a sight to see, if anyone had time to watch and not just cower/shoot at things with too much fur.

Merlin inserted the night before, at a drop zone secured by Galahad, who'd managed to successfully convince the defenders near the Olympiastadion that a Luftwaffe supply drop was incoming.

The RAF pilot flying a Ju-52 over Berlin did drop supplies for the German defenders. Food, water, cigarettes, masses of candy, medical supplies, sanitary supplies, etc. And out of the bomb bay in a blackened B-24 jumped six parachutists in German kit.

Everyone agreed later that it was amazing the way none of the Germans on the ground shot at the parachutists and after they'd landed, allowed them to depart to report at the Zitadelle sector, instead of being detained. Crowley just smiled knowingly.

[Icelander]

While the initial stages of the mission were exciting only in the sense that they PCs were a force of pitifully few commandos inserted into a besieged enemy capital defended by tens of thousand of the enemy and menaced by millions of uncertain friends who'd treat them as spies if captured, World War II took a turn for the Weird after the first session.

It was then that the PCs started to hear the howling of wolves in the Berlin night and heard stories of huge black hounds or wolves harassing Soviet troops during the advance to Berlin. So far, they have not seen any, but the mission specialists with the Allied assault force are not ruling out the possibility of SS occultists controlling wild animals or even taking their form.

Unknown to the PCs so far, SS-Standartenführer Otto Skorzeny commands SS-Sonderverband z.b.V. Jötunheimr (a.k.a. Jagdverband Wehrwolf), a special commando unit assigned to Himmler's secret bunker. It is not a large formation, being at most a platoon.

Since the night of the 26th of April, groups of Skorzeny's Jagdverband have left the Ministergärten, apparently on missions to harass the advancing Soviets. In these forays, they eschew most of the uniform and gear of regular Waffen-SS troopers, tending to carry only a harness with submachine gun, ammunition and grenades, as well as wearing no helmets and only light clothes. They also smear themselves with some substance to darken their faces, arms, chests and any other exposed skin. Strangely, however, all of them, even those otherwise almost naked, wear magnificent fur coats or capes.