Hello Everyone, 
 
65 years ago on June 6,1944 the Allied forces succeeded in pulling of the greatest amphibious invasion in the history of mankind and this historical invasion probably marked the turning point in WWII in the European Theater.
 
On June 6, 2009 Malize initiated his Anniversary event "Operation Overlord, the Invasion of Calais". The Event was a little hectic at the beginning as it took the full hour that Malize allotted to set up the event and get mobile spawns into place and the invasion forces into positions. Players from both sides were chomping at the bit and dancing like they had ants in their pants to get underway and into action.

The green lights were lit and the invasion began. I decided to play on the invading teams side and do a few missions. my 1st mission was a freighter out of Dover and I sailed to the beaches near Wissant. alone the way I picked up a few destroyer escorts who cleared the waters of the Axis Destroyer and help me with the Axis fighters who were attacking me from mid channel to almost the coast near Wissant. As I closed on the beachhead at Wissant I began to take fire from the shoreline from the Axis units dug in there. I got within a few kilometers of shore when I took direct hits from the enemy and they took out my engine. I was left with no choice but to lower the life boats and put my cargo of infantry into them and lower them into the water so they could try to swim to shore before my transport sank taking them to the bottom of the channel. I ran a few paratrooper missions flying a C-47 to Gravelines to drop re-enforcements in that battle. I then did a few infantry missions to try to help Secure Gravelines and blow the FB's so that the Allied forces could bet a brigade into Gravelines. In the 4 hours of this event, it was never a dull minute and there were battles everywhere that I could join in.
 
I’d like to quote some of the AAR's and comments from the Anniversary Event .......
 
"Dear Allied Forces,
I would like to congratulate you all in a splendid victory today, June 6th, 1944. The Axis fought hard and strong, but we broke through with a tremendous amount of force and teamwork, resulting in our absolute victory.
 
I'd like to take a moment to thank all my Designated Divisional Commanding Officers. Subrat17 of the 1st Division, Seabird1 of the 4th Division, Raven4 of the 101st Airborne, Bluekill of the 82nd Airborne, Nelson of the 6th Airborne, and Awezmiz of the Deal Canadian-British Joint-Attack Corps (CAN 3rd Division, UK 3rd Division, UK 50th Division). Without these 6 men/women, I wouldn't have been able to relay orders and set up the start of Overlord, and I thank them for helping me carry out such a successful campaign.
I'd also like to thank Rick1945 and SgtRose, my main intelligence officers and fellow AHC officers. Without you two, The whole thing would be left to me... and who knows what would've happened.
But of course, who could forget the real fighting men who fought today for the liberation and freedom of our French allies. What can I say? No Army to attack a land mass with means 1 vs. 1000, and we all know what would happen if that were to be. I know there were some tough times capturing towns with no support, and also some errors in communication and planning, but we eventually got through.
 
To my fellow Axis commander, Xoomxoom, (who I killed over 30 times in Marquise) I thank you. Even though you’re a poorer shot than Atlantis, you still managed to somewhat fight off the allied forces with noble cause. Your Korps was much larger than my fighting force, and you managed to stall us for sometime. I hope we'll one day see each other again.
 
So, once again, thanks to everybody (except zehive) who fought, and S!
 
S!
OrangeL" 

"Indeed it was a good fight, after an hour of waiting the Soldaten got a bit dulled out of the original motivation, the loss of the Luftwaffe was bad as well, and, the constant turn over’s of towns and such didn't help a bit either.
 
AXIS players got demoralized, and it was unfortunate. They did however do an outstanding job, great initial set up, but no real invasion? No TT's? Could've been due to original LW (which was insanely hard to control), but a lot of our defensive work was for nothing. And this, was in itself, unfortunate.
 
The fight on the ground was immensely fun however. Good fight to all, and until next time , take care.
 
A salute to the leaders who made it happen:
 
47th DIV XO: Toro15
 
49th CO: Atlantis
 
18th CO: Stall84
 
18th XO: Horble
 
LW: Ryuujin
 
And a MASSIVE SALUTE, to all of the outstanding players we had defending the lands.
 
Xoomxoom"
 
"S! to all Allied and Axis players who made this event extremely fun....
 
I joined the 101st for the event and flew two hops to Ardres. The first one ended in disaster as we were jumped by a Fw190 about 12K from our objective. Just like the real D-Day we went down in flames and only two troopers got out the door before we crashed. They were about 11k from the objective and began the long run to Ardres on foot.
 
The second hop was longer, but by taking a southerly route and staying just above the tree we were able to reach our destination undetected. With the green light blazing the brave troopers jumped into the heart of enemy territory.
 
I landed a short distance away and joined my buddies on the ground. After a brief firefight in the west AB bunker Raven4 was able to shoot the offending Axis HC in the face and we secured the town in about 30 minutes.
 
We next headed out on foot to the Calais FB and managed to get the FB down even with the Axis putting up some tough resistance. At this point the 101st decided that we had to help with Gravelines. Two troopers headed back to Ardres to keep the town secure and the other three (yes there was only 5 of us!) headed to Calais. Our goal was to harass the Axis rear and ease the pressure on Gravelines.
 
We made our way to the Allied FB and watched a group of Axis take it down. We held tight and let them finish their work and then moved on. The whole run took almost 30 minutes.
 
Upon reaching Calais we split into two groups. One went to cap the Grave depot and the other went to the Ardres depot because Ardres was now under Axis assault. Both depots were capped and thus began the huge cat and mouse game in Calais. For the rest of the event our band of five troopers harassed the Axis in Calais. It wasn't easy. The Axis defenders were cunning and determined. At one point Malize and I killed each other repeatedly near the west depot.
 
The end came with the Allied capture of Gravelines and Marquise. With those two towns secured Allied soldiers began putting the pressure on Calais. With event quickly coming to a close the Allied team managed to cap the last two CPs and secured the beach head.
 
And yes Zehive was the last Axis defender......until I flamed his tiger!"
 
"S!
 
"In case it helps to determine the victory conditions, thought I'd include my version of the defense of Wissant and Utah/Omaha beaches.
 
I was originally assigned to the defense of Calais under Toro15. However, I was reassigned to the Wissant area under the command of Parah. Upon spawning in at Parah's MSP, I was ordered to move to Omaha beach for a headcount. Upon finding no one else stationed at Omaha, Parah had two other infantry--Dermox and Geckod--join me at Omaha. I was then assigned by Parah to be the commanding officer for the Omaha beach defense task force while he led the initial assault on Wissant and still commanded the Utah defenses.
 
Wissant eventually was captured by German forces and the assaulters rejoined the beach defenses. Allied Air was sporadic at this point but steadily increased in numbers. Not long after a Hawk buzzed the beaches, Omaha came under fire by a British DD which was escorting an Allied Frigate.
 
Despite the shelling, I had ordered my task force to hold their fire. My infantry obeyed however two renegade Tiger tanks arrived on site and began engaging the enemy ships despite both my orders and despite the event's rules of engagements. I regret to say the transport was sunk, however, both Tiger tanks disappeared as well, presumably they were booted from the server. Within the next 20 minutes, the DD was also sunk by units at Utah beach.
 
Allied Air immediately began pummeling Omaha beach with bombs and strafing runs. My infantry task force sustained one casualty from the aerial attacks but no fatalities.
 
Another renegade German had capped the Wissant city flag, failing to comply with orders and the rules of the event. Wissant was reset by the GMs and forces were pulled from both Utah and Omaha to recapture Wissant depots and the AB. Wissant was secured and most units returned to the beaches.
 
My task force spotted a lone Allied trooper running along the crest of the beach ridge, northeast of Omaha beach. The Allied soldier was promptly eliminated by one of Omaha's gunners on the extreme east flank of the beach. We suspect the Allied trooper was part of the Allied paratroopers that took down the FB northeast of Wissant.
 
Utah spotted a French DD however the ship was eliminated by a German DD passing through the area.
 
Allied air was a combined force of British and French planes including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Bells and P-38s. These forces continued to harass Omaha beach however my task force sustained no casualties and no fatalities from this attack.
 
Approximately three hours into the event, INTEL reported that Allied forces had captured a facility in Wissant. Both Utah and Omaha were secured, no Allied landings had occurred. Also, the skies over Wissant were clear of C47s and French Ju52s so Allied paratroopers would be unlikely. Parah sent a recon force into Wissant and concluded that there was only one Allied soldier in town trying to capture it all.
 
Parah had recalled forces from the beaches to hold Wissant, leaving only a skeleton crew on Omaha and Utah. I was one of the troopers recalled to Wissant from Omaha. The Wissant FBs suddenly went down and our MSPs no longer functioned. Our forces were widdled down one by one while additional flags in Wissant fell to the enemy.
 
With the remnant forces from the beaches, I recalled everyone from the beaches in an attempt to make a last stand at the Wissant Sawmill--the only German flag remaining. Parah had long since logged out leaving me in command of the surviving forces.
 
I was one of the last to hold out at the sawmill before the enemy had gunned me down as I shot him. The sawmill fell to Allied forces within ten minutes of my death.
 
We still cannot explain that one Allied soldier that started the raid on Wissant or how he got to Wissant in the first place. Despite the questionable appearance, the German presence at Wissant had crumbled in a matter of minutes.
 
Signed,
 
Gunnie, OIC of the Omaha Defense Task Force, Acting OIC of the Wissant Group."
 
 
"Was very fun, my first realism event!
 
Had some excellent fighting in Gravelines when the para's came in, sad I had to leave so early S!
 
Horble"
 
 
You can find some screen shots by those who played in this Anniversary Event in this thread.  I didn't do any Frap recording and didn't make a movie this time as I normally do because I was a player one the Allied side and not in the Buzzard overhead getting the whole picture of the combat that was going on. 
 
I'd like to thank several people for making this Anniversary event possible .....
 
Malize, thank you Sir for drawing up the battle plans and all the work you did getting this event organized and running it. Words can not express my gratitude to you, Sir. You've written and run two great events, "Pearl Harbor" and "Operation Overlord". I look forward to seeing what your next project will be.
 
KFS1, thank you Sir for getting the Training Server up and running for us to hold the Anniversary event. Without the Training Server up and running, this would not have happened.
 
DOC, you, Sir, I do not know what to say to you, you came in during set up to make sure everything was okay and fixed one of the little problems we encountered. You spent most of the night working on the Training Server to make sure it was up and running and working properly. After the HC rank situation was correct and you informed me that you were up most of the night and logging out to get some sleep, I realized how much you love this game and are dedicated to everyone and everything about WWIIOL Battleground Europe. I owe you a very old bottle of whiskey and a good steak dinner if I can ever make it to CRS Rat HQ in Bedford. Thanks just does not seem to be enough for what you did so we could hold and play in special event celebrating CRS's 8th Anniversary of live game play.
 
The player base, You guys make my job possible, you guys make these events happen. Without you playing in them, there would be no special events and i'd like to say thank you to everyone who came and played and has played in every special event that we have run since February of 2008. I hope that you will come back and enjoy the special events we hold in the future.
 
Respectfully,
 
Jammyman
Special Events Program Director / Intermission Scenario Development
WWII Online Battleground Europe
Corned Rat Software / Playnet Inc
www.BattlegroundEurope.com