The Snatch - AAR

The Game

I’d inveigled my two long distance wargaming colleagues to give me a hand with this game. I’d seen the scenario on TV some 10 years ago and thought it might be worth gaming. It’s loosely based on the Venloe Incident in 1939 although to be honest I didn’t know that. What was a bit disconcerting was when I laid out the scenario; both Dougers and Snappers independently said “Is this the Venloe Incident. Looking it up, I realised they knew far more than I about it than I did. Snapcase even had a newspaper cutting to hand, which he sent and I’ve subsequently lost.

Sometimes I feel like such a lightweight in their company, but don’t tell them that.

The Scenario for this game is the previous post.

The German Dutch border, the road to Berlin is to the left and Amsterdam to the right.

General Ernst Von Stroheim is going to defect to the Allies, he has the latest Operational Plan Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), which is the attack on the western front.

A meeting has been arranged between himself and the British and Dutch SIS to take place in this small hotel.

A little further into the Netherlands is a small, forward supply dump guarded by an unknown number of troops.

And finally an aerial recognisance photo of the area.

The Germans have found out about this plan and have decided to turn it to their advantage by capturing the British and Dutch SIS Operatives. They have sent a crack team of SS troopers to burst through the border control check point and drive pell-mell to the hotel where they will rush inside, relying on speed and surprise to achieve their objective.

In support they have a veteran squad of Wehrmacht infantry led by Horst Dankers, they have been moving quietly through the woodland and are now in place to support the SS when they arrive in their trucks.

As the sounds of heavy diesel motors grows louder the Dutch boarder guard steps out into the road to stop them. The man must be incredibly brave or totally stupid to carry out this action, but in the aftermath of the raid it’s hard to know because he’s dead. One of the Wehrmacht, Eckhard Unger has moved close to the sentry box and as the guard steps out into the open he opens fire with his sub machine gun. The guard is hit and falls.

Unfortunately he falls in the middle of the road and without compunction Michaela Stolz, driving the lead truck runs over him.

If he wasn’t dead before, he is now.

On the other side of the road is a small corrugated iron hut that the Border Guards are using to keep warm and out of the chill winter wind. The Wehrmacht have moved a light machine gun operated by Wolfgang Arnold forward to overlook this hut. Horst Dankers who is in immediate command of Arnold, as well as the rest of the Wehrmarcht squad, hears the trucks driving down the road, and orders Arnold to open fire.

Corrugated iron blocks line of sight but not bullets and one of the two border guards sheltering in the hut is killed in the opening burst. The other guard rushes outside and is cut down in a hail of lead from Danker’s sub machine gun.

The Wehrmacht don’t know it but they have killed all the Dutch Border Guards, however ignorance is bliss and they continue to fire into the sentry box and hut.

The German trucks blaze down the road, screeching to a halt in the parking lot in front of the hotel.

SS troopers debus or if you’re an American Un-Ass is the accepted term, or so I’m led to believe, and rush towards the hotel entrance. Their officer, Kamilla Altmann leads the way; they know speed is of the essence and these chapesses are no slouches.

Inside the hotel, Agent Snapcase of British SIS, swallows his Pink Gin with unseemly haste; as the barmaid points to the back door he nods his thanks and pushes Sally Brunn his Dutch counterpart towards it.

There are occasions when being an English gentleman has its advantages. Snapcase would never dream of going through a door before a lady and as he urges Sally to hurry, he opens the door and lets her go first. Stepping through she sees Horst Dankers, at the same time, he sees her. Horst is fast but she’s faster, lightning fast even and she fires first. Hitting Dankers in the arm…..his right arm and he drops his smg, grimacing in pain laced with chagrin, a deadly combination.

Then Arnold opens fire with the light machine gun, he’s caught off guard by Sally’s sudden appearance and rushes his shots, spraying the area around her, but miraculously misses his target.

She dives behind the wall opposite the door way, well who wouldn’t do that when faced with a burst of machine gun fire.

Inside the Hotel the SS troopers move swiftly, there are 3 internal doors facing them as they burst through the outer door. Erika Baeker is the first trooper through the Lounge door. The room is full of people but she’s a professional and experienced killer. Scanning the room swiftly she notes the man at the far door trying desperately to get through it and shouts, in German “Stop or I’ll shoot” raising her smg as she shouts the command.

Snapcase, who only speaks school boy German, is annoyed, she’s much younger than he is, and so should have addressed him more formally, his old school master would have had a fit, it’s only proper protocol in these circumstances and so he turns and opens fire.

His shot’s miss but Erika reacts to them by immediately ducking back through the door she’s just entered. That’s why she is an experienced and professional killer, she knows when to duck back fast. It’s the old story, good judgement is gained as a result of experience. Experience is gained as a result of bad judgement.

Having neutralised the initial threat and vented his anger Snapcase steps quickly through the door after Sally.

He sees her crouched behind the wall and ducks down beside her.

So when the next SS trooper, Ingrid Rockmeir steps much more carefully into the saloon bar, Snapcase has already left the building.

Some of the customers react as you would expect. Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum and Mrs Peacock sit still and put their hands in the air. The observant observer would realize this isn’t a new experience for any of them. Miss Scarlet the Barmaid hides something in a beer mug on the top shelf behind the bar, no one sees her do this. Mrs White the Cook, disappears through the back door and Mr Greenstreet moves to see what the noise is all about, then sees Gerda Nerlinger through the glass door and freezes.

The sight of Gerda makes most men freeze.

Meanwhile on the border the Wehrmacht are securing the area. Eckhard Unger runs forward and checks out the sentry box, it’s empty apart from one dead body.

The small guard detail at the forward supply base is still trying to decide what to do. Should they retreat and sound the alarm or rush forwards to defend the Dutch border.

Decisions, decisions!

They make the wrong one and decide to defend the border, they run into well placed German defenders and in a fierce exchange of gunfire two of them fall and the officer ducks back to hide behind a shed, where he re-considers his options.

The fire from the machine gun has slackened so Sally Brunn and Snapcase escape around the corner of the hotel, keeping low to avoid being shot in the back as they go.

They see the ample frame of Mrs White vault the stone wall like a member of the 1936 Dutch Olympic Pole Vault Team, she’s far more nimble than she looks.

This might explain how she’s survived for so long in the Intelligence Business, although as no one was briefed about her presence it’s all a bit of a mystery to Snapcase and Brunn.

Realising she seems to know where she’s going, and as it’s away from the deadly Germans, they follow in her wake as fast as possible. Snapcase is huffing and puffing by now, as memories of his old school 100yds race come to mind…….and he hopes he doesn’t come last again.

Do you remember Mr Greenstreet and Gerda Nerlinger, if not I’d worry about your short term memory, anyway Mr Greenstreet, having seen Gerda through the glass door decides that he probably didn’t want to be picked up by SS Stormtroopers and did a runner out of the back door.

If you look carefully you can see him in the background.

Ok, for the hard of sight, this is him emerging from the Hotel. Seeing Sally Brunn streaking away from the hotel, he starts to loose heart knowing he can’t match her pace, but he cheers up a little when he sees Snapcase ploughing along manfully by her side. He is of a similar stature to Snapcase and probably a similar speed, so he brightens up and prepares to climb the wall that Mrs White vaulted earlier.

The Storm Troopers are hard on the heels of Snapcase and burst out of the side door. They are lucky that Arnold recognises their uniform before opening fire, Arnold feels fairly lucky too. He knows that opening fire on the SS has a way of ending badly.

Rushing round the corner of the hotel they see Mr Greenstreet and command him to HALT, which being a sensible individual without a death, wish he does.

He is brought back to the trucks and ordered to climb in.

Difficult but the alternative is worse.

Kamilla Altmann briefs Meinhard Wenke of the Gestapo that his raid has been a failure. He wonders how he can spin this to deflect the blame but knowing who her father is, realizes he must pack some heavy winter clothing for his next assignment, somewhere on the Russian Front.

Horst Dankers ensures the border barrier is raised so that the strike force can retreat back across the border without delay, and Arnold prepares to provide covering fire but it’s not needed as the Storm troopers make a swift but orderly retreat back to the Homeland.

Greenstreet contemplates his future with a certain degree of pessimism.

As Snapcase contemplates his with a little more optimism.

Meinhard Wenke of the Gestapo wonders if he has a future to contemplate.