The Search for Hauptmann Horn

This was a WW2 Airsoft game organised by Comrades in Arms and held in the Brecon Beacons military training area in April 2011. It covered the landing of of Hauptmann Horn aka Rudolph Hess in Scotland and was an encounter between British Home Guard and regular forces and a detachment of German paras sent to get him back. It was only the third WW2 Airsoft game I took part in, I  was a Fallschirmjager for this one.

A degree of fraternisation took place before the game. The British even enlisted these tracker dogs.

The British stand around looking smart. The sergeant on the left is from a film unit.

Some SS paras tagged along with the Germans, evidently Hitler didn't trust the Luftwaffe to do the job.

The British were well equipped with home comforts.

Privates on parade.

News comes in that something is amiss (namely a crashed aircraft in the woods).

Meanwhile Germans are lurking among the steep and heavily wooded valleys.

The terrain was utterly exhausting, here elite German paras take a breather after walking up (another) hill.

The British scoured the woods.

While the Germans watched and waited.

Letting the British exhaust themselves.

After various alarms and excursion the Fallschirmjagers finally laid their hands on Hess, and managed to evade the SS who seemed to have other plans for him. Time to hide up and have a brew before marching to the coast and a U Boat home.

Hess himself, obviously contemplating what Hitler is going to say to him. His somewhat eccentric uniform was the result of a British subterfuge while they had captured him briefly.

Another elite paratrooper. Ahem. Yes I know it is the splinter A pattern and not splinter B on the jump smock, I have subsequently purchased another.

This was great fun, even if it was utterly exhausting. One section of terrain took us three hours to travel a mile, but it was all very atmospheric. To cap it off, the British Army film unit made this rather magnificent film of the whole thing: