THE FORUM HEROES--REVENGE!!!

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Heh Heh! Now Rosselsprung my friend, trying to set parameters for the fight at this point would be cheating......

Best ,
~D, the EviL

[Commissar D, the Evil]

While I have enjoyed all the FH stories, you seemed to have been more "in the groove" for some passages than others. Does that make sense?

Yes, this is a good point Tom. I think there are at least three easy explanations for this:

1. Each episode is written and posted usually on the same day, so editing is minimal.
2. A lot of the writing is simply to put the characters in place for the "real action". The more the characters, the longer the process takes and while this is not strictly "filler" material, it is a pain in the ass to write.
3. No one can be "on" every day. Even the best parts, if written on a "bad day", don't have the impact of a moderately intersting episode written on A "good day".

But, as I said, this is a very good point. The optimum would probably be to write the stories then post them in sections. The darwback is that I would lose a lot of flexibility and not be able to take into account the helpful posts of other Forum Heroes.

Very best Regards,
David

[Tom Houlihan]

But, as I said, this is a very good point. The optimum would probably be to write the stories then post them in sections. The darwback is that I would lose a lot of flexibility and not be able to take into account the helpful posts of other Forum Heroes.

David, I vote you just continue to do what you've been doing. Your formula is successful, there's no doubt about that.

Remember, even when a diamond merchant doesn't like all his products, even the trash is still diamonds!

Or bling, whatever...

[Rosselsprung]

I agree with Tom. The formula you're using currently is fine and it lets us chime in with every single chapter posted. However, as the cast of Forum Heroes seems to grow with every adventure, perhaps for future tales you could make them more personal, and and about a few central characters, instead of a huge cast. After all, it seems after every forum hero adventure, ten people raise their hands and yell "I want to be a forum hero too!". I know, because I was one of them.

Perhaps in the future you could make them more focused on a few characters, because you wouldn't need to "set up the action" for so many, and make them deeper with more character development and the like. You could also have far more "action" and humor in such a story too! Finally, since I've noticed you've made a few spelling and grammar mistakes, maybe a "forum heroes editing board" could be formed. After getting proof-read and edited, maybe the cleaned up version could be re-posted in a new thread.

Just a few suggestions!

P.S.- For the fight with Hansen, how would my idea be cheating? Well, may the best man win.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Finally, since I've noticed you've made a few spelling and grammar mistakes, maybe a "forum heroes editing board" could be formed.

Yes Cormade Commissar Rosseleprung and perhaps, while we're at it, "A People's Censorship Board" and a "People's Committee to Ensure Political Correctness" and, of course, a "People's Board on Ethics in Fiction......"

Tip: Don't take odds on how your little tussle with Hansen turns out.

Best Regards,
~D, the EviL

[Rosselsprung]

I like your thinking Commisar! Next, People's Board on Proper Depiction of Minorities, and People's Board on Correct Treatment of Women in Literature and..............

Whoops, got a little carried away there. By the way, as much as I'd want to join the Glorius Party and its ranks of Commisars, I don't think Comrade Commisar Rosselsprung has the same ring to it as say, Comrade Commisar Khruschev, or Comrade Commisar Andropov.

Finally,

Tip: Don't take odds on how your little tussle with Hansen turns out.

You mean I shouldn't have bragged and started to make bets with almost everyone in the battalion!??!

[Commissar D, the Evil]

REVENGE Part Twelve

Tom followed the Russian Staff car at a respectful distance, just in case Sam’s “Leprechaun MagiK” was a little off. (This hadn’t been known to happen, but Tom was always prudent when it came to Faerie MajiKs.)
The Russian driver, Tom noted, drove like hell; too fast and all over the road. After a half hour or so, the car drove into a clearing, where, to Tom’s utter amazement, a German staff car sat. The lone man waiting besides the car walked over to the Russian vehicle and got in.
“You’d better take a look at this Shadow.” Tom said, stepping away from the armored car’s periscope.
Shadow gave him an indifferent look but went to the periscope.

“I wouldn’t be here,” the German officer said, “if I hadn’t been betrayed by my superiors.”
“That is certainly true.” Commissar Petrovich agreed. “You have been abandoned with inadequate forces. Your superiors make no move to come to your assistance and the heroic Red Army is about to encircle you.”
Stuck turned his head and gazed out of the window. “I have a duty to my soldiers to see that they are not slaughtered uselessly.”
Commissar Petrovich agreed. “When we take Ivanograd, I cannot take responsibility for what my troops may do if they have to fight for every inch of it.”
Stuck looked at him. “You know my terms.”
Commissar Petrovich nodded.
“I want assurances that I will be sent to a neutral country for the duration of the war and that I may take my personal property.” Stuck produced a leather pouch from his greatcoat pocket.
Commissar Petrovich handed him an envelope. “These assurances are in writing and signed by Comrade Stalin himself.
Stuck smiled. “Then I will announce our surrender at noon tomorrow.”
“Yes, but will your officers follow your orders?” Petrovich asked.
Stuck turned his nose into the air. “The German solider is renowned for his discipline and obedience to orders.”
Petrovich smiled agreeably and Stuck, having concluded his business, got out of the car.
Comrade Rebsky looked at Petrovich through the rear view mirror.
“Do you think this fool will keep his promises?” Rebsky had very little faith in German promises.
“Oh course he will.” Commissar Petrovich said reassuringly. “Did you see the pouch he carried?”
“Yes, so?”
“Every Commissar in the Soviet Union is familiar with that pouch. It is a sacred relic of the Russian Orthodox Church and has been for two thousand years. That pouch contains thirty pieces of silver, from biblical times.” Commissar Petrovich smiled again.
Comrade Rebsky saw the implications, but he was always a skeptic.
“I didn’t know it was a policy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to put blind faith in religious fairy tales.”
Commissar Petrovich felt indulgent. “Of course it isn’t.” He said. “By noon tomorrow, Major Luposky’s Guards SU Regiment will be sitting at the Western end of Ivanograd. If there is any opposition, we will crush it.”

The Shadowy one released the periscope and took his seat. His expression had changed from one of dubious boredom to one of thoughtful concern.
“I have read this man, he does not have the imagination to make a deal with Bolsheviks!” The Shadow said.
“Maybe,” Tom answered. “But at this range I could blow his ass to kingdom come and send him back to Germany a fallen war hero. Just in case, mind you.”
Petrovich’s car began to pull away. Tom tracked it through his gunsight. “Well certainly there is no reason not to dispose of the Russkie.”
“Hold your fire,” the Shadow replied. “If the general was negotiating with the Russians, it must be a trick. If we kill the Russians, we may be ruining his plan and doing something that will hurt us in the end. Stuck has been a Party member since its founding.”
Tom frowned. “Sometimes an apple is an apple, Shadow."
“Aye, ‘tis true enough, be difficult to look into a man’s heart, but actions is clear.” Sam chimed in, removing his pipe to speak.
But the Shadow lived in a world of constantly shifting greys–it was both his gift and his curse.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Rosselsprung wrote:

People's Board on Proper Depiction of Minorities,

Uh, that one I think I've got covered, Rosselsprung.

Best Regards,
~D, the EviL

[Tom Houlihan]

Finally, since I've noticed you've made a few spelling and grammar mistakes, maybe a "forum heroes editing board" could be formed. After getting proof-read and edited, maybe the cleaned up version could be re-posted in a new thread.

Hey, that's my job! (Geez, I sound like Goebbels!) Once everything is proof-read and edited, it will be posted. We just haven't determined when and where.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Yes, please direct any future complaints to Comrade Tom, he is my American Business Manager.....

Best Regards,
~D, the EviL

[Commissar D, the Evil]

REVENGE Part Thirteen

Five more of Luftwaffe Major Gunter Rausch’s HE-111s arrived that morning containing supplies. After supervising the unloading, he went into town to inform General Stuck. Headquarters seemed to be in a state of complete confusion. Staff officers were running back and forth, carrying books and documents to the furnace in the cellar. Other documents were being burned in trash cans. Many officers were stripping off their medals and rank insignias.
No one paid any attention to Rausch, so he collared an aide and demanded to know what was going on. The man looked at his watch and tried to bolt away, but Rausch held on tight to him
“Why are the code books being destroyed?“ Rausch demanded. “Where is everyone?”
“I’ve got to finish my job–there are Russian tanks on the outskirts of the town.”
“So?”
“The General is going to make a speech at noon. The word is that he is going to surrender.”
“Surrender?” Rausch looked at him as if he were mad.
“Orders have already been issued to the regiments to destroy all communications devices and all heavy weaponry after the speech.”
“This is madness”, Rausch said, “where is the General, can I see him?”
“He’s in the communications bunker downstairs, no one is allowed in, not even his Staff Officers, but a number of them have already fled.” The officer pulled away and ripped the rank badges and patches from his tunic. From another room there came the sound of a single shot. Rausch pushed the door open and looked into the room finding inside a staff officer with a gun in his hand and his brains sprayed on the wall behind him.
The Major hurried from the headquarters. He could see mobs of leaderless soldiers prowling the streets in search of liquor and women. Discipline had already broken down to an extent at the mere rumor of a surrender. The men seemed to be running around like mice in a cage.
Acting on his own authority, Rausch made his way to the field hospital. He ran into Drs. Buttar and Krollspell, who, obviously upset, made a point of getting him inside and locking the doors behind them.
“You must get the wounded to the airport, my men will fly them out if there is still time.”
“Then the rumor that we’re surrendering is true?” Prit asked. “All morning the rumor has swept the city and terrible things have happened, we’ve had a number of suicides and soldiers have broken in looking for drugs.”
“I just came from Headquarters, it seems to me that they’ve panicked. You have to help me get the wounded out.”
Prit and Krollspell agreed. There were a number of trucks used as ambulances that could be impressed into service and the doctors quickly began loading the patients on the trucks with the help of the orderlies and nurses. Ever patient was loaded aboard the trucks, even those who would not have been moved under ordinary circumstances.
Rausch had never imagined being caught up in anything like this, but he lead the first group of evacuees to the airport, bullying his way past the drunken, disorderly mobs of soldiers who wanted to take their trucks.
When he arrived at the airport, a German armored unit had set up at the airport, about 6 badly worn tanks and less than a dozen halftracks. Rausch issued orders arming all of the Luftwaffe personnel and got the first airplane into the air as soon as it was fully loaded, with instructions to send more airplanes to help the evacuation.
There seemed to be no choice in the matter, everyone knew what the Russians did with wounded prisoners and he wasn’t going to have that on his conscience.
The armored group leader didn’t interfere, he and his men were too busy repairing and refueling their own machines to notice or care about the wounded. Rausch was frankly concerned about what they would do once they knew that the town was to be surrendered. For that matter, he was concerned about what his Luftwaffe troops would do, so he gave them strict orders for them to guard the perimeter and let only wounded men into the airport.
At exactly noon, General Stuck’s voice came over the loudspeakers in front of headquarters and over the Division’s command net.

Soldiers of the 787th Infantry Division, you have all fought well in the past weeks. Your bravery has been exceptional. The entre Wehrmacht and our beloved country has every reason to be proud of your actions, but we can go fight no further. Our superiors have betrayed us through their lack of support for your bravery. There is a Soviet armored unit at this very moment in the western suburbs of Ivanograd and another Soviet force advancing from the north. No hope of victory remains. We are totally surrounded and there are no plans by our superiors to come to our rescue.
Therefore, to avoid unnecessary slaughter, I have decided to surrender the Division after discussions with the Soviet commander. Each of you will be well-treated, you will be allowed to retain your insignia of rank and your medals and awards. We shall conduct this surrender with all of the discipline you have traditionally shown in difficult situations. All heavy weapons and armored vehicles are to be destroyed. All munitions supply dumps are to be burned. All communications devices are to be destroyed . We will march from this town as soldiers and I expect each and every one of you to behave as soldiers.
I ask that you assemble without your arms in the town square. I thank each and every one of you for your past sacrifices and I hope our road ahead will be an easy one, as you have all done your duty to the Reich.”

Oberleutnant Paum saw the fear and depression on his troops' faces. They had fought well and honorably. Many of them had served under him since Kursk and now they were being told by some fat general that their next destination was a Russian POW camp in Siberia. Paum decided to nip this defeatism in the bud. Calling them all together, he said simply,
“As long as I have a bullet for my pistol and gasoline in my tank, I’m not surrendering to anyone. We are not members of the 787th Infantry Division, so what Stuck says does not apply to us. We are going to rejoin our kameraden in the 585th. So finish your repairs and appropriate whatever ammunition and weapons you need. I will personally shoot any man who mentions surrender. Now go do your jobs.” Paum had never been much of a speech-maker, but what he lacked in eloquence, he made up for in sincerity. And the men were secretly hoping he would say what he said. All they wanted at this point was a strong leader and a hope of escape.
Rausch heard the speech and was cheered by it. He approached Paum.
“I’m trying to airlift the wounded out of here, but there are reports of Russian tanks in the area. Can you hold them off until we take off?”
Paum considered. “You have an hour, no more, my men have to leave quickly if we’re to escape. We’ll hold here for an hour, so hurry.”
Rausch hopped into a truck and, followed by three other trucks, zipped off into the city. He returned in half an hour with the rest of the patients. The scenes he had witnessed in town were indescribable. German soldiers tripping off their uniforms or shooting themselves in the streets. Looting and rape. Even spontaneous acts of arson. Wild scenes of fistfights over what to do and how to escape. An entire street littered with discarded rifles, grenades and other weapons.
It was as if in one speech General Stuck had obliterated the men’s morale. Rausch might have understood the effect of the speech better had he know that the average landser trusted Stuck, as had Stuck’s senior staff. If the old man said things were hopeless, then they must be truly hopeless. He was the only Division commander the 787th had ever know and had supervised its initial organization and training.
A roar of engines and a clatter of tracks announced the cautious advance of Major Luposky’s Guards SU Regiment towards the center of town. Some German soldiers, intimidated by the forty-five ton machines and their 152mm guns realized that this was truly the end and began to throw away their weapons.
At the airport, Paum watched as the last airplanes were loaded. Rausch gave him a salute and called out “Good Luck!”
Paum was walking away, back towards his men as Raush’s HE-111 taxied to the runway. A single Sd. Kfz 251 screeched to a stop in front of him. Dr, Krollspell saluted and Dr. Buttar waved at him. Nurse Locke, in her oversized stahlhelm favored him with a smile.
Paum couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he recognized the halftrack with the pink crosses painted on it.
“So, do you have space for one more halftrack and a medical team, or has our membership in the 585th expired?” Krollspell yelled.
“You can come along for as far as we get.” Paum shouted back.
The crews mounted their vehicles. Paum could already see Russian tanks in the distance headed for the airstrip. They were too late. Kampfgrupe Paum sped off before a single shot could be fired.

[M.H.]

Noooooo! NO Surrender!:shock:
Hansen would never surrender!!!
Leave me alone with this Stuck...just five minutes!

Wow, what a tight situation well written David.
I'm waiting for the next chapter!

[Freiritter]

Hello,

Surrender... Oh no, not Frau Dietrich's little boy. So far, so good Comrade Commissar, you got my attention for the next installment!
Perhaps, Oblt Dietrich can, maybe, accidentally, run into Herr Stuck and perform a little field justice?


Cordially,

Freiritter

[AAA]

Surrender!

Thats what we expect from Aryan wanna-be Nazi party never-have-been hacks being promoted above their talent level. But enough about that insubordinate Hansen.

Now that weak bastard, the traitor Stuck, well I can only agree he deserves a horrifying end with indescriminate field justice.

To which forum hero the honor of offing Stuck? And how to escape the bolsheviks tightening net - by dash, stealth or treachery (or *gasp* a heroic last stand)? Will the bugged EKs really only be replaced in 1957?

[M.H.]

Surrender!
Thats what we expect from Aryan wanna-be Nazi party never-have-been hacks being promoted above their talent level. But enough about that insubordinate Hansen.

Aaaargh! Now you wait...I will show you!:evil: You...you...you....(*insert mean and colorful swearing*):evil::evil::evil:

To which forum hero the honor of offing Stuck?

A tough, reliable SS, who else!



*starts filling a notebook to remember with whom to swap punches*