Diplomacy 1454AD Winter Build 1454 Turn 003

Venice (Joseph)
Build Army - Venice Build
Fleet - Trieste

Holy Roman Empire (Chris)
Build Army Berlin
BuildArmy Vienna

Poland-Lith (Zahn)
Build Army Warsaw
Build Army Sevastopol
Build Fleet St.Petersburg (South Coast)

England (Rob)
Build Army Breast
Build Army Liverpool

The builds are in. Spring 1455 Orders are due Sunday Dec 20th 9:00 AM ET. Please I know you'll all put off your Christmas shopping until the last minute, but don't let Dippy time past you by.

Diplomacy 1454AD Fall 1454 Turn 002

Spain (Mike) Three Centres No Builds
Army Spain to Marseilles
Fleet Gulf of Lyon support Army Spain to Marseilles
Fleet Ionian Sea to Venice (IMPOSSIBLE, No Move)

Poland-Lith (Zahn) Six Centres Three Builds
Army Norway Stands
Army Warsaw Moves to Moscow
Fleet Romania Stands

England (Rob) Five Centres Two Builds
Fleet English Channel to Belgium
Fleet North Sea support Fleet English Channel to Belgium
Army Edinburgh hold

Holy Roman Empire (Chris) Five Centres Two Builds
A Budapest Hold
Flt Kiel Hold
A Munich to Switzerland (Bounce)

France (Pat) Three Centres No Builds
Fleet Holland supports English Fleet North Sea to Heligoland Bight (No Effect)
Army Marseilles to Switzerland
Army Burgundy supports Army Marseilles to Switzerland

Venice (Joseph) Five Centres Two Builds
A Rome to Naples
A Serbia supports Greece
F Greece Holds

Ottoman Empire (Les) Four Centres No Builds
Fleet Black Sea supports Army Bulgaria
Army Smyrna to Constantinople
Army Bulgaria stands
Fleet Aegean to Greece (Bounce)

Diplomacy 1454AD Spring 1454 Move 001

Spain (Mike)
Army Portugal to Spain
Fleet Spain (SC) to Gulf of Lyon
Fleet Naples to Ionian Sea

England (Rob)
Army Liverpool to Edinburgh
Fleet London to North Sea
Fleet Brest to English Channel

Ottoman Empire (Les)
Fleet Bulgaria (EC) to Black Sea
Fleet Smyrna to Aegean Sea
Army Constantinople to Bulgaria
Army Ankara to Smyrna

France (Pat)
Army Marseilles to Switzerland (Bounce)
Army Paris to Burgundy
Fleet Belgium to Holland

Holy Roman Empire (Chris)
Fleet Berlin to Kiel
Army Munich to Switzerland (Bounce)
Army Vienna to Budapest

Poland-Lithuania (Steve)
Army St.Petersburg Moves to Norway
Army Warsaw Stands
Fleet Sevastopol Moves to Rumania

Venice (Joseph)
Fleet Greece Hold
Army Venice to Rome
Army Trieste to Serbia

Fall 1454AD Orders are due Sunday Nov 15th 9 AM. We will then begin 2 week cycle as per the last game, with delays as required.

Remembering F/Sgt Earl William Bock

It was 65 years ago last night that a young man of 21 was killed in action over the skies of Germany. Earl William Bock was one of my two namesakes, my grandfather being the other.

The following information was obtained from Dave Stapleton of the 626 Squadron Research Project on F/Sgt Bock's last mission.

The 626 Squadron Operations Record Book RAF Form 540 (The Squadron Diary) records that F/Sgt Earl William Bock was posted into 626 Squadron with his crew on the 2nd September 1944 from 11 Base. F/Sgt Bock was the Rear Gunner in the crew and flew 11 operational sorties with the crew.

On the 22nd October 1944 the crew took off on their 11th operational sortie in Lancaster LM689 UM-N2. The task on this sortie was mine laying in the Kattegat area and only two 626 Squadron Lancasters were detailed to fly on this operation; they were part of a force of 20 Lancasters and 19 Halifaxes. The aircraft took off at 16.27hrs.

At 20.21hrs on the homeward bound leg of the sortie the aircraft was attacked by an unidentified enemy aircraft at close range from below and dead astern. The Mid Upper Gunner fired 100 rounds in the direction of the trace (tracer bullets from the enemy aircraft) and he observed a long burst from the rear turret before the Rear Gunner F/Sgt E W Bock stopped firing. It was later found that F/Sgt Bock had been killed by cannon fire from the enemy aircraft.

The Lancaster was riddled with 19 x 20mm cannon shells along the length of the fuselage, the port aileron had been shot away and the intercom was unserviceable. The bomb doors had also been blown open. The aircraft made a safe landing at RAF Woodbridge on its return.

My father was also tail gunner on a 626 SQD Lancaster and often wondered why he was lucky enough to have made it, when others like his friend Earl did not. So this Remembrance Day, during the two minutes of silence please give thoughts or a prayer to a memory of a young man whose life was cut short so long ago.

Earlier this year after a trip to the Memorial Chapel in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill I discovered that Earl's nephew, Art Osborne had published on-line a page of remembrance. It was from his site that I obtained the picture used at the top of this post.

http://www.artosborne.com/9.html

Earl Bock's name is displayed on page 252 of the WW2 Book of Remembrance on May 27th each year. 
 

Let Slip the Dogs of War

Renaissance Diplomacy II (me04) Start Spring 1454

The Players:

Chris: Holy Roman Empire: F Berlin, A Vienna, A Munich
Rob: England: F Brest, A Liverpool, F London
Pat: France: F Belgium, A Marseilles, A Paris
Mike: Spain: F Spain (sc), A Portugal, F Naples
Joseph: Venice: A Venice, A Trieste, F Greece
Steve: Poland-Lithuania: A St.Petersburg, A Warsaw, F Sevastopol
Les: Ottoman Turks: F Bulgaria (ec), F Smyrna, A Constantinople, A Ankara

The Map:

Good Day Gents

Spring 1454 Orders are due Sunday Oct 25th at 9:00AM Please send all orders to my email address.  Please add your gaming comments by using the comment option at the bottom of each turn's posting.