Overzelaous Flak gunners in port

abel29a · 06-24-07, 07:20 AM

Heading out from Lorient in early 1943 I had the Flak guns manned in case of Allied aircraft. (You never know when the blighters will attack....) I was down in the command room busy plotting a course for Freetown, leaving my Exec in charge of guiding us out of the harbour. Suddenly, my Flak gunners opende fire. No alarm was sounded, so I rushed up on the bridge to see what was going on. Once on the bridge I saw a burning plane racing towards us, narrowly missing the tower and plummeting into the sea, exploding some 10-15m off to the side of the boat.

I turned towards my glorious gunners with a heartfelt "Nesser schuss" when suddenly they traversed their guns to port and started shooting at another target. Verdammt, thought I, these Allied A/C are becoming a real nuissance, not even safe in port. Eager to find out who this latest tormentor was, I raised my binocs, followed the stream of tracers and to my horror saw that my men where shooting at a Me 109! I immediately ordered cease fire, and konsultet my KTB, where, sure enough, I was listed as having destroyed one friendly 109

. Cursing the now forlorn gunners, I radioed to base, blaming it on bad visibility and general fog of war (outright lies of course), but the local Luftwaffe commander will undoubtably be waiting for me when I get back to base.

So - how do I stop my Flak gunners from engaging friendly A/C in the future? I want to keep them manning the guns and ready to fire as I leave port, in case of a REAL attack, but is hesitant to do so, as shooting down my own fighter cover must be considered detrimental to the war effort.

Secondly - how much renown will I loose when I return to base? How much is a 109 "worth"?

06-24-07, 07:20 AM	#1
abel29a Helmsman Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Trondheim, Norway Posts: 101 Downloads: 2 Uploads: 0	Overzelaous Flak gunners in port Heading out from Lorient in early 1943 I had the Flak guns manned in case of Allied aircraft. (You never know when the blighters will attack....) I was down in the command room busy plotting a course for Freetown, leaving my Exec in charge of guiding us out of the harbour. Suddenly, my Flak gunners opende fire. No alarm was sounded, so I rushed up on the bridge to see what was going on. Once on the bridge I saw a burning plane racing towards us, narrowly missing the tower and plummeting into the sea, exploding some 10-15m off to the side of the boat. I turned towards my glorious gunners with a heartfelt "Nesser schuss" when suddenly they traversed their guns to port and started shooting at another target. Verdammt, thought I, these Allied A/C are becoming a real nuissance, not even safe in port. Eager to find out who this latest tormentor was, I raised my binocs, followed the stream of tracers and to my horror saw that my men where shooting at a Me 109! I immediately ordered cease fire, and konsultet my KTB, where, sure enough, I was listed as having destroyed one friendly 109 . Cursing the now forlorn gunners, I radioed to base, blaming it on bad visibility and general fog of war (outright lies of course), but the local Luftwaffe commander will undoubtably be waiting for me when I get back to base. So - how do I stop my Flak gunners from engaging friendly A/C in the future? I want to keep them manning the guns and ready to fire as I leave port, in case of a REAL attack, but is hesitant to do so, as shooting down my own fighter cover must be considered detrimental to the war effort. Secondly - how much renown will I loose when I return to base? How much is a 109 "worth"? __________________ "Sieben Tankern schlug die letze Stund, die U-Falle sank träger. Zwei Frachter liegen mit auf Grund, Versenkt vom Paukenschläger." - Reinhard Hardegen, U-123 GWX 1.03 and loving it....