We left Peaches in the watch tower womanning the Bren. Tubby, Stodger, Tarquin and Frobisher make their way towards the last remaining hut. They had made contact with Vaggers (who can be seen entering the stage, top right) and agreed that Mme de Gaulle must be in the last hut, the guard’s hut.
There had been light opposition so far and they had concluded that there must be several guards in the hut itself.
Silently the SAS and the SBS surrounded the hut. Unbeknownst to the Heer guards, the brown stuff was now approaching the rotating object. Sphincters were tightening outside the hut, as the chaps raised their heads above window-sill level and took a very cautious peek inside.
There was some light inside, Tubby counted seven guards, one guard dog and in the far corner, a shape asleep under a blanket. It had to be Mme de Gaulle, he prayed. Again, Tubby and Vaggers conferred and made their plans. In the back of Tubby’s mind was a quotation he had had drummed into him at Eton,
“If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well, it were done quickly”, he thought.
The raiders surrounded the hut, the guards unaware of their impending doom. Conscious of friendly fire, they chose appropriate windows to shoot though. The use of a grenade was out, they could not afford to wound or kill Yvonne de Gaulle.
It may have seemed like a murderous act to innocent bystanders, but war is war and these seven guards were standing in the way of Tubby and Vaggers. This is not a position informed people would normally wish to be in. The agreed signal was three clicks on Tubby’s clicker. The signal was given and all hell broke loose. The sound of Thompson sub-machine guns rent the previously silent night air, as a myriad of .45 bullets entered the guard hut.
As the gun smoke cleared inside the hut, the only discernible movement was the shape under the blanket, which had crawled under the bottom bunk. All the guards were down and the floor of the hut was a sea of claret.
At this point, I have to interrupt the narrative. This is not the usual run of things for a Gentlemen of Much-Piddling game. Usually, the thing has descended into absolute chaos by now, with atrocious dice throws and even more atrocious decisions! In this game, we had already had the miracle shot by Peaches. When the SBS tumbled over the wall, they hardly made any sound. Even when coming face to face with two guards, no shots were fired. I had played this scenario from Black Ops twice before;The Great Jam RaidThe Case of ‘Swiss’ Tony’s Thumb and the Lady Mayoressand in both cases, the raiders had alerted the defenders before they even got inside. This time, we had silently infiltrated the camp. By dint of throwing exceptionally good dice, every guard in the hut was killed or mortally wounded in the opening burst of fire. So, Vaggers and I were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves doing so well, with absolutely no manipulations of the rules at all. Not our usual cock-up at all. On with the show!Entering the hut and checking that the guards were all dead, the team made contact with Mme de Gaulle and prepared to disappear into the dead of night.
Of course, you can’t make that sort of noise in occupied France, without the nasties turning up, like a bad penny. Alerted by the cacophony of small arms fire, von Kinnriemen’s second-in-command, SS-Standartenführer Brunhilde von Busen returns to the camp, accompanied by the SS guards, a somewhat more elite force than the guards who were left on duty.
Acting in concert (for once) the raiding forces left the camp the way they had come. Stodger, Tarquin and Frobisher are escorting Yvonne de Gaulle back to the RV, as fast as she can manage.
Some of the SBS lads are in their Folbots, as Badger Hamster-Crust and Jolyon Pugwash bring up the rear (bringing up the rear is a very old naval tradition which we won’t go into here, women and children present, don’t y’know?).
The SS and the Geheime Staatspolizei hurry into the camp.
Meanwhile, Tubby (watching out for his niece, Peaches) has caught up with the crew near the RV.
We can see here that Peaches is rapidly catching up with the main body.
We did look at line of sight to see if the returning guards could see anybody, but in the night their vision was limited and none came within range.Meanwhile the ‘rum, bum and baccy’ boys are paddling like fury, heading back to MGB 69. Vaggers is leading from the front, keeping watch with his silenced Sten, at least, that is his excuse for not paddling!
Angry shouts from the SS as they find the first guard dead (the one that was knifed by the sentry box).
Peaches checks the rear, for signs of pursuit.
There are suggestions of the roseate fingers of dawn permeating the sky, as the canoes turn into the main channel. It has been a long night for the raiders, but many guards will not see the dawn.
SS-Standartenführer Brunhilde von Busen surveys the carnage that is the guard hut and wonders what god-awful posting her lot will be, after this debacle. There not a sign of the perpetrators and their high-level captive has disappeared into the stygian gloom.
So, we leave you with a final shot of the teams as they escape the scene of this successful attempt to set Europe ablaze! The SAS are about to be picked up by the Navy, top right and the SBS are not far from their celebratory rum ration onboard MGB 69. “Splice the mainbrace”, cries Toastrack.
Our only casualty was Toastrack, whose ability to father future little-Toastracks was possibly still in doubt, after receiving that rifle-butt to the family jewels. But he lives to fight another day.
But wait, what is this? Safely back on MGB 69, another shock awaits our plucky heroes.
Peaches (remember, she is an MI6 agent) reveals that Mme de Gaulle had in fact taken her children and the maid into Brest on 17th June, before the arrival of the German vanguard. She borrowed money from an aunt who lived there and sought news of her husband at the British Vice-Consulate, which was closing down. Staff advised her to embark on one of the last two ships sailing for England, one Polish, one British. The de Gaulles took passage in the latter and reached Falmouth safely on 19 June: they were therefore in England before MGB 69 sailed to find them. Fate played a hand in their choice of transport as the Polish ship was sunk on the way over.
Peaches was the only one in the party who was aware of this, having been briefed in London by Sir Douglas ‘Dapper’ D’Emfore. In order to allow the escape of the real Mme de Gaulle, a daring substitute volunteered to surrender herself to the German forces, claiming that she was Yvonne de Gaulle. This heroine was none other than Hildr von Spanckwürst (more of her story from Vaggers) and there she was in the officer’s mess of MGB 69, calmly tossing back shots of Pusser’s rum. Snappers and Vaggers should have been angry but, as the rum took effect, they saw the funny side of it. ‘Dapper’ was very keen to get Hilde back to London and had dispatched the best men he could find, so that Hilde was not destined to languish in German captivity.
Sir Douglas 'Dapper' D'Emfore
Hildr von Spanckwürst (taken in Berlin in 1938)
We shall, no doubt, hear of these lionhearts again.