Hellions ODB 130, ODA 133, ODA 153 and ODA 163 came together for their first major event of the year at Panzer Attack hosted by Bailey's Battlefield in Niangua, Missouri. The Hellions fielded 17 players and quite a few more plus ups under the command of their own Dwayne "Zeke" Ezekiel on the side of the Germans wearing Red arm bands. Lawrence "TB" Wright of Thunderstruck commanded the Allied Forces.
Company Executive Officer Kevin "Buckshot" Buchaniec fielded the "Grindhouse" with a few new upgrades. Buckshot also served as the German XO under Zeke. The Grindhouse, along with several other German tanks completely dominated the road network and severely disrupted the Allies' movement. Don "D-Mac" McClelland took command of the Task Force made up of combined ODAs 133, 153 and 163.
Over 450 players took the field at the sound of the horn. The Allies were able to reach the first objective ahead of the Germans, but they were soon pushed back as the Axis coordinated Infantry and Armor to take and hold objective after objective. The first three hour block of missions saw the Axis in control of every primary objective. The Allies were left to try and stay in the points race through secondary objectives and props. The afternoon portion of the game saw a continuation of the same tempo.
Bill Bailey doesn't do night games, but he did provide entertainment a la karaoke "American Idol" style. Paul "Sully" Sullivan won the night with his rendition of Axl Rose of Guns n' Roses. "Air Guy" had brought a hot air balloon burner and was shooting huge plumes of fire into the night sky. There were also fireworks and bonfires galore.
Sunday morning saw the Allies down a significant number of players. Some may have been sleeping in after the American Idol celebrations, but many had apparently headed home. Volunteers were solicited to switch from Axis to Allies to even the sides. The Wild Bunch and half of Ghost Recon stood up and made the change in colors.
The Germans came out again highly motivated and ended up pushing the Allies back to their Insertion Point and man-handling them at practically every objective. One bright point in the game for the Allies involved Alix "Axe Killer" of Guerilla Mafia. TB gave him a spy card that allowed him to get a German card and arm tape. He sold the role by working with Axis players to run missions and find props--all along relaying the locations of Allied props, etc., back to his HQ. Then his call came. When Zeke led a Hellions and Green Devils combined force across the field to take a bunker complex, Axe Killer put a barrel (no maker) to the general's neck for the assassination.
Late in the day, reports came that an Allied helicopter was en route to the German HQ. The Hellions recalled several players to create a hasty defense. Other players started coming in confirming sight of the chopper closing in. After an uncomfortable pause, the team organized a force to go search and destroy the unit. Unfortunately, the German HQ was not the objective. The radar base behind it was. The German delay was enough to allow the Allies to blow it up before they could be eliminated.
The game had become such a rout on Sunday that the Allies were excited by the fact that they held one of the four flags in the final objective (Warehouse District) for the entire last hour. The Hellions were even able to use armor and supportive fire to protect the demo-man while he blew up the howitzer gun position that was only a grenade's throw from the Allie's Insertion Point. The fact that it was accomplished by a roll of fireworks and an electric detonator only added to the thrill of the mission completion for the Germans. In the end, the Axis had 3 of the 4 flags and sealed the victory. The final score was 1125 to 750.
Hellions in attendance were: Adder, Buckshot, D-Mac, Firefly, Grendel, Honu, Hulk, Kevlar, Sky, Splathappy, Warthog, and WickedKlown. From the Southern Detachment (ODA 163) were: Charlie, Custar, Grandpa Jo, Mjolnir, Swampthing, and Zeke. Guests included: Paul "Sully" Sullivan, Russell "IronTalon" Weigandt, Mich O'Connell. Allied teams that joined the Hellions and contributed significantly to the victory were: Green Devils, Devils Brigade
A selection of photos from the event will soon be available in the Gallery. Additionally, some photos are available through the team's Facebook page. For the whole story of how the event unfolded, check out Shooting Hot (June 2010) Online Paintball Magazine.
Panzer Attack follows the story of Fall Weiß, the lightning invasion and rapid destruction of Poland and the start of World War II:
In March of 1939 immediately after the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, Hitler told Colonel General Keitel, chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces and Colonel General von Brauchitsch, commander in chief of the Army, that the time had come to settle the Polish problem by military means. A week later Hitler set forth a strategic outline for an attack on Poland no later than September 1st, 1939. On April 28th Hitler abrogated the Polish-German nonaggression treaty of 1934 and declared that the Danzig question must be settled. On march 31st, the British, in an effort to forestall the dictator, had given a unilateral guarantee of Poland’s territorial integrity. France had a military alliance with Poland dating back to 1921. It was the Soviet Union that held the trump card in the game Hitler was playing. The German Army feared a two front war and even Hitler would not risk fighting both the western powers and the Soviet Union at this early date. Stalin, cynically, opened negotiations with both sides in mid April, 1939. Britain and France courted the Soviet Union but Stalin feared Germany and did not wish trouble with her. The Russians made overtures to the Germans suggesting that ideological differences need not prevent general agreement and hinting darkly that perhaps Poland could be yet again dismembered. Hitler realized that the Russians were using Germany to raise the price they would extract from the Allies for making common cause with them. Hitler’s position however was strong. The Soviet Union would have to fight for Britain and France but all it needed to do for Hitler was to remain neutral and gather in the spoils. The Russians signaled how well they appraised the situation on May 3rd when Maxim Litvinov, a Jew and longtime advocate of restraint in foreign affairs was suddenly dismissed as commissar of foreign affairs and was replaced by Vycheslav Molotov. On the night of August 23rd, German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop agreed to the final revision of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Treaty. A secret protocol placed Finland, Estonia and Latvia in the Soviet sphere of influence while Lithuania went to the Germans. Poland was to be divided along the Narew, Vistula and San Rivers. The treaty went into effect as soon as it was signed.
In July 1939 under the fiction of conducting summer maneuvers, strong German forces moved into assembly areas near the Polish Frontier. Other forces were dispatched to East Prussia ostensibly to participate in the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Tannenburg. In a last minute attempt to intimidate Hitler, the British announced on August 25th that they had entered into a full military alliance with Poland. It was of no avail however as on August 31st, Hitler signed Directive No.1 for the Conduct of the War. That night SS units staged incidents along the border including a phony Polish raid on a German radio station at Gleiwitz. Before sunrise the next morning, September 1st, 1939 World War Two began.
(Source: http://worldatwar.net/article/poland39/index.html)
