WW2 Supers d6: Mission Six: Saipan

[Rex]

Gurung

Gurung will keep look out as they move past the tanks.

[ateno]

Elias will continue with his people, a quick clean to his rifle and a drink of water. He looks inside the abandoned tank to make sure its not sabotaged to blow if moved.

Elais Tucker

[jemmus]

Saul looks at the abandoned tank, and for any signs of where the crew might have gone. They'd be lightly armed compared to the IJA troops in the valley and may need help.

[Monsieur Rose]

Acme

All good with the luck point use.

Marvin looks over the tanks. "Anybody have an idea on what caused those holes? Any other tracks nearby, or are we looking at a talent?"

[max_vale]

'Death Valley' in the plateaus near the base of Mt. Tapotchau in the central part of the island of Saipan at approximately 1:05 PM 25 June, 1944


As SST 4 and a platoon of Army troops moved near the shot up Sherman tanks and one Sherman tank that was stuck in the mud, several things happened as the patrol moved close to and around the stuck vehicle....

Major Marvin Acme looks at the holes in the destroyed tanks and quickly comes to the conclusion that an Anti-Tank cannon, probably something in the 40-50mm range, is the most likely culprit. Looking around, he saw that several hundred yards away, in the 'upper left' walls of the valley were some cave openings that had good fields of fire and were perfectly positions for what was probably a Japanese Type 1 47mm AT (Anti-Tank) gun and its crew to have set up shop to be in excellent 'sniping' position for vehicles in the valley. His attention was immediately brought back to the 'abandoned' tank though as suddenly the .30 caliber 'ball' turret on the front opened fire and a top hatch flipped open and a muddy uniformed IJA member screamed and moved to man the .50 cal on the top of the turret....

A trio consisting of CPL Saul Rabinowitz, Chief Elias Tucker and an Army PFC named Lashley were closest to the tank and Saul looked around to see what may have happened to the crew of the Sherman. He saw a pile of 4 or 5 bodies, all shot up and hastily thrown around the far side of the stuck tank so they wouldn't be visible from the trail on the opposite side and he immediately was about to call out a warning when it happened....

From inside the tank, a trio of IJA troops who had clearly moved forward to attempt to use the tank for their own purposes, sprang an ambush. One manned the 'ball turret' .30 LMG on the front of the tank and he sent a spray of rounds into the trio closest to the tank, which included Saul, Elias and poor Jim Lashley. Lashley was pulped while Tucker was spun around by a couple of rounds hitting his side and upper leg and Saul caught a round that deflected off the back of his shoulder blade, but still hit with enough force to drive him to the ground*....

Elias Tucker was moving close to the stuck tank with Saul and a quiet but good natured Army PFC named Jim Lashley when he saw movement inside the narrow 'view screen' of the Sherman and then suddenly the top hatch opened and an IJA Trooper scrambled out to man the .50 cal while another IJA member stayed inside the tank and opened fire with the ball turret. Lashley got drilled with half-a-dozen rounds that stitched his torso to pieces while Elias caught a round in his lower left side and upper left leg that spun him around and dropped him to the ground, throbbing in pain**. He saw Saul get knocked to the ground as well, but he could tell the tough Marine was already getting up, so he doubted it was very serious. The entire turret of the tank began to move and its main cannon was sweeping towards Acme, Roker and the rest of the patrol......

Senior Chief Roker was shocked out of the moment when the Sherman Tank that was stuck in the mud suddenly starting firing its MGs and its big turret started to swivel to point its long barreled main gun his way. He saw Saul and Elias get dropped to the ground, though both were still moving and he wasn't sure exactly what he should do next, but he KNEW it would have to be fast.....

Gurung moved to watch over the rest of the patrol as it moved towards the stuck Sherman on its way towards finishing the patrol to clear 'Death Valley'. In the blink of an eye, the tank proved to be a trap as IJA troopers manning its weapons opened fire and wounded Tucker and Rabinowitz and killed a young Army solider. Another IJA trooper moved to man the HMG on the top of the tank while yet another started to move the turret to aim towards the main body of the patrol.....



*Saul is just Grazed (I made an OUTSTANDING Strength roll for you to resist damage!), so he'll be at -2 for all actions next round only (not -2 dice, just -2); Tucker is Wounded, so he's at -1D to all actions until treated. The tank is no more than 25 yards away from any of you and one trooper is out on the top of the tank and he has some Cover, so he'll be a bit more difficult to hit....the others are inside the tank, so they are quite well protected from regular shots.....

[Rex]

Gurung

Gurung drops to a knee and brings his Enfield up into a tight firing position. He then takes aim and double taps (2 shots) at the IJA manning the closest machine gun. He then moves to the next machine gun.

[ateno]

Elias will low crawl towards the side of the trail and advance to the tank under concealment.

Elias Tucker

[jemmus]

Saul rushes to the side of the tank, zigzagged to try not to get made into mincemeat. He grabs above the tread and with a mighty strain, tries to turn it onto its side.

Trying to Super Strength talent.

[Monsieur Rose]

Acme

"Cover!" He shouts as he curses himself for allowing the trap to snap on them. Marvin dives for cover behind a burnt tank and starts to pull a grenade to toss. Luckily, he spots Saul being heroic and pauses momentarily, then throws the grenade to land where the tank will once be tipped over.

[Zhym]

For just a fraction of a second, Roker considers whether to just say "screw it" and try for some heroics. Wolf out, run for that tank, and try to drop a grenade in it? It has some appeal—mostly because he's so tired and hungry at this point that he doesn't give a damn.

Then he sees Saul run for the tank, figures that two supers running pell mell at the tank is just silly, and dives for whatever cover he can find.

[max_vale]

'Death Valley' in the plateaus near the base of Mt. Tapotchau in the central part of the island of Saipan at approximately 1:10 PM 25 June, 1944


The members of SST 4 and the Army soldiers they were with all reacted as the IJA troops in the 'disabled' Sherman Tank sprung their trap and opened up with the immobile vehicle's weapons....

The .30 caliber ball turret moved, tracking Roker and a pair of nearby soldiers named Honeycutt and Garcia and as it opened fire, the veteran Navy Radioman and both Army troopers scrambled to get out of the way and under cover. Fred managed to do so, the sound of numerous ricochets all around him ringing in his ears. Garcia was the same, but Honeycutt fell to the ground, screaming in pain as a round slammed into his side....

The BOOM of the 75mm main gun of the Tank firing was DEAFENING to all around the tank, but luckily for the Talents and regular soldiers alike, the IJA trooper who fired it was NOT a Tank gunner and the shell went screaming over their heads and exploded some 50 yards away, raising a short lived eruption of dirt and foliage some 2-3 yards into the air and all around.....

Riflemen Gurung took aim at the IJA trooper who had thrown open the top hatch and manned the .50 caliber Heavy Machinegun mounted there and he fired his Enfield Rifle, annoyed with himself at missing with the first shot, but his second shot hit the Japanese Trooper in the upper shoulder and the man was deprived of his ability to fire the weapon for the moment as the wound took his hands off the spade grips.....

At about that moment, Saul Rabinowitz rushed over and activated his Talent Power of Super Strength, attempting to tip the Tank over, but all he managed to do was to lift it an inch or two off the ground for a moment*. Still, this WAS enough to throw off the aim of the wounded IJA trooper who had by now managed to re-man the .50 cal and open fire, but it caused those shots to zip into the ground CLOSE to, but not INTO Major Acme and the nearby SSGT Morris and a Bazooka wielding Solider named PFC Connors. Then he heard Acme's voice yell out, "COVER!" and he heard something 'clink' and 'clang' on top of the Tank, so he dropped down to the ground as the grenade exploded above him.....

Major Acme raced to some cover with the skinny Staff Sergeant Morris and the short but stocky PFC Connors, carrying a Bazooka, right behind him. As he saw the Tank's turret and the wounded IJA trooper on top of it wielding the .50 cal aim his way, he yelled out "COVER!" even as he pulled a grenade and they all dropped and all flinched and tensed as the .50 opened up, but its spray of rounds just chewed up the ground half a yard away. Looking back up again, he saw that Saul had NOT managed to tip the tank over, but probably HAD managed to lift it up as it it was firing, causing the rounds to fall short. Marvin armed the 'nade and tossed it on top of the tank, pleased to see his aim was PERFECT and it went off and pulped the Japanese trooper, dropping his body back into the tank's turret through the open hatch. The fact that the turret was still moving meant at least a couple of more Japanese soldiers were inside the tank. Connors started to get his Bazooka ready to fire, but Acme realized Rabinowitz was RIGHT THERE as well.....

Elias Tucker hissed and grunted in pain as he stayed low and moved to cover, trying to get close too and on the flanking side of the Tank. He was able to do so, ignoring the various sounds of Machieguns, a Tank main gun and other weapons fire along with a grenade explosion. He felt/smelled/heard Saul activate his Hyper Strength Power but a quick glance showed that the Tank was still upright. As he was contemplating what to do, a glint to sunlight off metal caught his eye and he looked over to the distant walls of the Valley som 500 yards away (position 6 on the map) and he could see some silhouettes man-handling a long barreled Anti-Tank gun piece into position and he realized they would soon fire on the Sherman tank. He suspected the glint came off of a silhouette standing by himself off to the side....probably using some binoculars**......


OOC: Okay, the current situation has Saul right next to the tank, everyone else pretty close and under cover now and Saul, while your Hyper Strength WILL allow you the chance to tip the Tank over, it will be a DIFFICULT task for you as your Strength Power is a Minor One. You have 5 Dice to beat a 20.....and last round you had a -2 from being Grazed. The -2 is gone now, but keep that in mind. You CAN use a Luck Point if you so choose to increase your change to do so...or do something else. You ARE right next to a Tank with an open top hatch, so there's that.....

Acme, you know Connors' Bazooka has two main issues....first is that he'd be MUCH better off trying to shoot the Sherman in its thinner rear armor (you guys are near the front and sides)...and TWO, Saul is right there as well and might catch some of the blast....

Finally, Tucker would know that an AT Gun typically would have somewhere around 5 men manning it, including a 'Commander' who looked for targets and spotted and adjusted fire; which almost certainly was the guy with the binoculars. Now, the gun is 500 yards away and in some rocks, so these are some TOUGH shots if Tucker is thinking along those lines.....but possible.

[Rex]

Gurung

Gurung will scan for additional targets as the others deal with the tank itself. If he sees any he will take a shot.

[ateno]

Elias tries not to think of his wounds or noise and calls in his Focus, looks for wind and adjusts for height and sights just a bit left and a foot and half above the binoculars and relax and squeeze off a shot.

Will use my last luck point.

Elias Tucker

[jemmus]

Saul, unaware that he's spoiling a bazooka shot, quickly climbs onto the hull of the tank, pulls a grenade's pin, and drops the pineapple into the hatch. He dives for the ground and lies flat.