The sentry paced up and down and immediately responded as a woman turned the corner. A comely wench and certainly dressed to impress a young conscript.
“Who goes there, what do you want?”
“Are you looking for some fun?”
The soldier considered and remembered that the officer and patrol had just passed and wouldn’t be back for a quarter hour or more. “How much?”
“Fifteen Assignats”
“Ten” he responded, thinking my pay is worth less every day.
“Twelve”
“OK, just come over here where we can’t be seen”
As he turned the corner, led by the woman the conscript remembered very little, except a painful blow to the head and then waking up the next morning stripped and bound in a back yard.
Hans then quickly changed into the sentry’s uniform putting his own clothes in his knapsack. Receiving an all clear signal from an observer, he grabbed Ilse’s arm and force marched her up the road to the prison.
The two guards saw him coming “What have we got here?” said one lecherously.
“It’s a spy, just stick her in with the rest, that’s what the officer said”
“She’s too pretty to be a spy, aren’t you darling” said one guard, pulling at Ilse’s blouse.
“Look the officer said to lock her up and I’m not getting in trouble when he turns up shortly”
“Oh, alright, spoil sport” the guard reached for the keys and turned to open the door.
As the guard turned to open the door, his partner continued staring at Ilse’s cleavage only to receive a heavy blow knocking him unconscious.
Almost simultaneously the guard at the door had a knife at his throat and the instruction “Open the door quietly and you’ll live”
The prisoners were aroused when the door opened and two guards were pushed inside, followed by a woman and another French guard who called out in German. “Right who’ll strip these Frenchies and where is Seamus O'Malley”, At once several prisoners rushed forward to strip the uniforms off the Frenchmen.
A dishevelled individual in a hussar uniform staggered forward. I’m Seamus”
The guard gave some rope to the prisoners instructing them to tie and gag the Frenchies before returning outside. The woman looked at a rather battered Seamus and said “I’m here to get you out so change into one of those French uniforms”
“But, I can’t change in front of a lady” spluttered Seamus
“If you don’t I’ll leave you here” she responded.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Plans for Escape
Just as the light was fading Lieutenant Blanc entered Captain’s room exclaiming “We’ve found a way out! It’s taken quite a time, but we have found a way through the underground passages that lead to the surface beyond the camp”
“Very good but how will you use it, given that all the Freishutze will hunt you down as soon as you escape?”
“Yes, I’ve given that some thought. We are counted each morning and evening so we have to escape shortly after the check to give us the maximum time to get away before any alarm, also we will need light to find our way so the best time is after morning roll call, so we have the maximum daylight to get away”
“No you are not thinking clearly, daylight will also aide the pursuit, you are better to escape on a moonlit night, so you can move, but most people will be in their beds”
“Good idea, but my other idea is to organise a large escape with prisoners heading in different directions so that some of us will avoid the patrols and make it home. After all if we use this route once the guards will realise and prevent its reuse so it is an all or nothing plan”
“Hmm, it might just work. What do you need?”
“The main need is bread for at least a couple of days per man, so they don’t have to forage for food on the way.”
“So how many men are you planning to escape in this attempt?”
“Twenty five more or less”
“So I have kept a reserve of biscuit for emergencies and it might stretch that far. It’s a full moon in a few days can you be ready by then? Also can your escapees be trusted?”
“Yes, and apart from a few trusted individuals the rest won’t know until the last moment. Can you also keep a watch out for informers?
“Certainly”
“Very good but how will you use it, given that all the Freishutze will hunt you down as soon as you escape?”
“Yes, I’ve given that some thought. We are counted each morning and evening so we have to escape shortly after the check to give us the maximum time to get away before any alarm, also we will need light to find our way so the best time is after morning roll call, so we have the maximum daylight to get away”
“No you are not thinking clearly, daylight will also aide the pursuit, you are better to escape on a moonlit night, so you can move, but most people will be in their beds”
“Good idea, but my other idea is to organise a large escape with prisoners heading in different directions so that some of us will avoid the patrols and make it home. After all if we use this route once the guards will realise and prevent its reuse so it is an all or nothing plan”
“Hmm, it might just work. What do you need?”
“The main need is bread for at least a couple of days per man, so they don’t have to forage for food on the way.”
“So how many men are you planning to escape in this attempt?”
“Twenty five more or less”
“So I have kept a reserve of biscuit for emergencies and it might stretch that far. It’s a full moon in a few days can you be ready by then? Also can your escapees be trusted?”
“Yes, and apart from a few trusted individuals the rest won’t know until the last moment. Can you also keep a watch out for informers?
“Certainly”
Friday, 5 March 2010
Despatches for the General
Late afternoon in Pappenheim.
General Wurst looked up as Stammpot knocked then entered. “Some despatches for you sir”
A young hussar marched in stood to attention then opened his sabretasche and handed the despatches to the general. “I was told to hand these to you personally sir, they come from Bruckewasser”
“Excellent, and what’s your name young fellow, you look familiar?”
“Ritter Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein III, sir”
Any relation of General Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein of Raubenstad?
“His grandson sir”
“Well the next time you see him give the old rascal my regards and remind him he still owes me a drink. If, as I expect he will claim I owe him one, just ask him about the Baroness Michelle."
"Ahhh. yes sir"
"Now I’m sure you will want to get back to your squadron as soon as possible so report back here tomorrow at 8 o’clock and you can take some despatches back to Welle”
“Stammpot give the fellow a pass for food and accommodation at the Admiral Tirpitz Inn.”
Stammpot and the hussar left and when Stammpot returned he found the General beaming. “Excellent information, this gives us the complete breakdown of the French forces and their route of advance. Towards Welle as expected”
“The question is can we get the Imperial forces to support us in time?”
General Wurst looked up as Stammpot knocked then entered. “Some despatches for you sir”
A young hussar marched in stood to attention then opened his sabretasche and handed the despatches to the general. “I was told to hand these to you personally sir, they come from Bruckewasser”
“Excellent, and what’s your name young fellow, you look familiar?”
“Ritter Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein III, sir”
Any relation of General Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein of Raubenstad?
“His grandson sir”
“Well the next time you see him give the old rascal my regards and remind him he still owes me a drink. If, as I expect he will claim I owe him one, just ask him about the Baroness Michelle."
"Ahhh. yes sir"
"Now I’m sure you will want to get back to your squadron as soon as possible so report back here tomorrow at 8 o’clock and you can take some despatches back to Welle”
“Stammpot give the fellow a pass for food and accommodation at the Admiral Tirpitz Inn.”
Stammpot and the hussar left and when Stammpot returned he found the General beaming. “Excellent information, this gives us the complete breakdown of the French forces and their route of advance. Towards Welle as expected”
“The question is can we get the Imperial forces to support us in time?”
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Urgent dispatches
As he watched Ilse riding away behind the ridge, Friedrich wondered what role she was playing, so he opened the dispatches to see the contents. He found a complete copy of the parade state of the French army and details of their planned thrust to Welle. Thrusting the despatches back in the bag he called out “Otto, who’s our best available rider?”
Von Zendabrau responded “Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein”
“Right give him these despatches and instruct him to ride with all haste to General Wurst in Pappenheim”
For the rest of the day all seemed quiet and as the sun began to set the FreiHusaren rode back to their camp in Welle, leaving a piquet under Sergeant Specht to watch the road overnight and give warning of any French activity. It was important to still have sufficient light as all the timbers on the bridges across the dikes had been loosened ready for removal and the horses had to be led across.
Arriving back, Friedrich dismissed his men and went to report to the Colonel at the Rode Leeuw tavern. He quickly explained what had happened, to the Colonels obvious annoyance “But I need to know what has been seen and I’ll have to wait till General Wurst copies the details of her despatches.”
“Begging your pardon Colonel, but following staff procedures I skimmed the despatches first before sending them to General Wurst”
“Excellent, thank you Friedrich, but I’m still concerned about my daughter’s safety, her anonymity was how she could move around easily, now she has been recognised I’m worried”
“Now quickly tell me what you remember as we are invited to dinner with the Bishop this evening and we are already late.”
Von Zendabrau responded “Hugo von Schwillensaufenstein”
“Right give him these despatches and instruct him to ride with all haste to General Wurst in Pappenheim”
For the rest of the day all seemed quiet and as the sun began to set the FreiHusaren rode back to their camp in Welle, leaving a piquet under Sergeant Specht to watch the road overnight and give warning of any French activity. It was important to still have sufficient light as all the timbers on the bridges across the dikes had been loosened ready for removal and the horses had to be led across.
Arriving back, Friedrich dismissed his men and went to report to the Colonel at the Rode Leeuw tavern. He quickly explained what had happened, to the Colonels obvious annoyance “But I need to know what has been seen and I’ll have to wait till General Wurst copies the details of her despatches.”
“Begging your pardon Colonel, but following staff procedures I skimmed the despatches first before sending them to General Wurst”
“Excellent, thank you Friedrich, but I’m still concerned about my daughter’s safety, her anonymity was how she could move around easily, now she has been recognised I’m worried”
“Now quickly tell me what you remember as we are invited to dinner with the Bishop this evening and we are already late.”
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
The Prisoner
Seamus suddenly realised that he had made a big mistake. He saw French infantry either side of him and as he pulled up he saw that no one had followed him. As he turned to escape a number of the French Chasseurs rode up and surrounded him. Seamus dropped his sabre, but he was uncertain as to whether this act would save him from the Chasseurs revenge. Luckily an officer rode up shouting something in French.
The officer then turned to him and spoke in German “Any trouble and my men will gut you, slowly, so tell me who you are”
“Not thinking he knew anything important, Seamus revealed that he was a recently recruited member of the Freihusaren recruited from the nobility”
In further questioning Twyth could get anything else of use out of him so he instructed the Chasseurs to deliver him to the prison in Bruckewasser while he reported to the General.
“Hmm, not very good news Twyth” said General Bercollin “You lost a Lieutenant and four men killed and another five wounded out of a patrol of fifteen”
“Yes, but I have discovered how the enemy know what are plans are. Just before the ambush I recognised the serving wench from when we had our staff meeting after the abortive river crossing at Stonew. When challenged she rode off at speed and she was the one who shot the Lieutenant, just before those hussars came to her rescue”
Representative Laine entered the room. “I hear you have an interesting captive Captain”
“No just a hussar, but because of his status we may be able to trade him for one of our officers”
“I think not, he is an Aristo, and we need to set an example”
“Representative Laine what do you mean?” asked the General.
It is a chance to test my new equipment sent from Paris and thereby persuade our enemies that resistance is useless”
“This is dishonourable and I won’t permit it”
“In the name of the Republic, I insist”
“I will comply only if I receive a written instruction”
“Very well, Captain bring pen and paper, the execution will timed for 9 o’clock tomorrow
The officer then turned to him and spoke in German “Any trouble and my men will gut you, slowly, so tell me who you are”
“Not thinking he knew anything important, Seamus revealed that he was a recently recruited member of the Freihusaren recruited from the nobility”
In further questioning Twyth could get anything else of use out of him so he instructed the Chasseurs to deliver him to the prison in Bruckewasser while he reported to the General.
“Hmm, not very good news Twyth” said General Bercollin “You lost a Lieutenant and four men killed and another five wounded out of a patrol of fifteen”
“Yes, but I have discovered how the enemy know what are plans are. Just before the ambush I recognised the serving wench from when we had our staff meeting after the abortive river crossing at Stonew. When challenged she rode off at speed and she was the one who shot the Lieutenant, just before those hussars came to her rescue”
Representative Laine entered the room. “I hear you have an interesting captive Captain”
“No just a hussar, but because of his status we may be able to trade him for one of our officers”
“I think not, he is an Aristo, and we need to set an example”
“Representative Laine what do you mean?” asked the General.
It is a chance to test my new equipment sent from Paris and thereby persuade our enemies that resistance is useless”
“This is dishonourable and I won’t permit it”
“In the name of the Republic, I insist”
“I will comply only if I receive a written instruction”
“Very well, Captain bring pen and paper, the execution will timed for 9 o’clock tomorrow
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Rallying
The Freihusaren swept down on the French in the traditional uncontrolled hussar fashion just like wolves. Most of the French saw them coming and turned back in time but quite a number were sabred badly.
As the French were now fleeing as fast as they could away from the onslaught and recognising the perils of uncontrolled pursuit Friedrich turned to Mariusz to call the rally. It took three attempts before everyone seemed to respond.
As Friedrich watched his troops rallying back to the ridge line the scout drew up alongside “Thank you for your intervention Sir”
“Ilse?” and turned to look at her.
“Friedrich” then Ilse burst into laughter
“What’s so funny?”
“Your new moustache, it doesn’t suit you at all and…”
“And what?”
“It’ll tickle when I kiss you” and did so before Friedrich could react. “Thank you for my rescue”
“Excuse me Sir” shouted Lieutenant von Zendabrau.
“Yes Otto, how are the men?”
“Only a couple of minor wounds, however Seamus O'Malley is missing, he was last seen chasing after the French.” We managed to kill four of the Frenchmen and wound a number of others before they escaped”
“Hmm, that means he’s probably been captured by the French”
“Friedrich, who are these men?”
“They are my FreiHussaren, pledged to defend Frundsberg, I am now a Major in the army.”
“So they are all nobles and do they know what the French might do if they are captured?”
“They all understand the risks they are taking and what might occur if that happens”
“Well I may be able to help, if you can take these dispatches back to General Wurst urgently”
“Certainly, but what can you do?”
“I have ways, aufweidersehen Friedrich”
“Aufweidersehen Ilse”
As the French were now fleeing as fast as they could away from the onslaught and recognising the perils of uncontrolled pursuit Friedrich turned to Mariusz to call the rally. It took three attempts before everyone seemed to respond.
As Friedrich watched his troops rallying back to the ridge line the scout drew up alongside “Thank you for your intervention Sir”
“Ilse?” and turned to look at her.
“Friedrich” then Ilse burst into laughter
“What’s so funny?”
“Your new moustache, it doesn’t suit you at all and…”
“And what?”
“It’ll tickle when I kiss you” and did so before Friedrich could react. “Thank you for my rescue”
“Excuse me Sir” shouted Lieutenant von Zendabrau.
“Yes Otto, how are the men?”
“Only a couple of minor wounds, however Seamus O'Malley is missing, he was last seen chasing after the French.” We managed to kill four of the Frenchmen and wound a number of others before they escaped”
“Hmm, that means he’s probably been captured by the French”
“Friedrich, who are these men?”
“They are my FreiHussaren, pledged to defend Frundsberg, I am now a Major in the army.”
“So they are all nobles and do they know what the French might do if they are captured?”
“They all understand the risks they are taking and what might occur if that happens”
“Well I may be able to help, if you can take these dispatches back to General Wurst urgently”
“Certainly, but what can you do?”
“I have ways, aufweidersehen Friedrich”
“Aufweidersehen Ilse”
Monday, 1 March 2010
Patrolling
The last few days for the Freihussaren had been fairly uneventful just providing backup for the light dragoons, with one troop on duty while the other continued training. However today, Friedrich led a troop up to a more exposed position behind the low Donnep hills as they had to provide backup to the Aufklarungskorps who were scouting towards Bruckewasser.
Friedrich along with Lieutenant von Zendabrau were positioned where they had a clear view to the south but not quite on the crest of the ridge. Friedrich’s trumpeter Mariusz was just a few paces further back. Just as boredom was beginning to settle in, and Friedrich was wondering how to keep his men alert, a scout from the Aufklarungskorps emerged from a copse to his front and rode up to report to him.
“Sir, one of our scouts has been found by the French and is being pursued in this direction”
At that moment the scout and the French appeared in view.
“Right Lieutenant, take half the men and deal with those closer French, the rest will follow me”
Then calling to his trumpeter “Mariusz, you stick to me like glue, now sound the charge”
====================================
Ilse could see that the French were still gaining on her and that unless she could think of something she could be captured shortly. Looking to her left she could see the flanking party was directly between her and the hills, but suddenly beyond them she saw a mass of yellow cavalry sweeping down from the hill.
Friedrich along with Lieutenant von Zendabrau were positioned where they had a clear view to the south but not quite on the crest of the ridge. Friedrich’s trumpeter Mariusz was just a few paces further back. Just as boredom was beginning to settle in, and Friedrich was wondering how to keep his men alert, a scout from the Aufklarungskorps emerged from a copse to his front and rode up to report to him.
“Sir, one of our scouts has been found by the French and is being pursued in this direction”
At that moment the scout and the French appeared in view.
“Right Lieutenant, take half the men and deal with those closer French, the rest will follow me”
Then calling to his trumpeter “Mariusz, you stick to me like glue, now sound the charge”
====================================
Ilse could see that the French were still gaining on her and that unless she could think of something she could be captured shortly. Looking to her left she could see the flanking party was directly between her and the hills, but suddenly beyond them she saw a mass of yellow cavalry sweeping down from the hill.
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