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Rickusty

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  1. The real problem with the AS.42 scout car is that its main weapons can't rotate on a fully 360° basis. This is a rather big *bug*, as indeed, the car depicted in the game is an altogether different animal compared to its real life counterpart, which was quite an effective scout car. Its main 20mm auto-cannon was able to traverse to a full 360° circle and was able to also engage incoming aircraft. In the game, the main guns (be them 20mm, 47mm or MMG) can only fire towards the forward part of the vehicle, which is quite wrong. Please , Battlefront, fix this! p.s. Oh well, I forgot I also wrote about this months ago... Here it is, my previous post
  2. Yes, indeed, the dummies from the windows were a bit of a giveaway. The soldiers falling thogh were quite realistic in their moves. Interesting nonetheless to see the 47mm in action. I was especially interested in watching the 47mm HE shell exploding close by the tank. Also , the AB-41 turret mounted on the armoured train was a first for me in an historic newsreel. In another anti-partisan action, this time in Italy, against italian partisans, you can see, IMO, a non-staged action. At 2:15 we can see , on the very left of the screen, an hidden partisan being hit by bullets fired presumely from the MAB38 on the right (or others) and the poor guy falling down and incoming bullets hitting the ground nearby. If you go at 2:43, after the end of the engagement, you can see in that previous position a fallen man. Video There are some very interesting videos on the historic national archive of "Istituto Luce".
  3. Hello everyone, I found out a very neat video on youtube, showing Bersaglieri Inf. and a Semovente da 47/32 in action against partisans , in Slovenia. The year could be 1942/43 it seems. At 2:06 there is a very interesting shot of a 47mm HE shell explosion very close to the tank, as seen from the self-propelled itself. The falling Bersaglieri are probably a re-creation of a real engagement. But some of them trip rather "heavily"... Could be real, could be not. The fact remains that guerrilla warfare in the Balkans was a rather crude and hard war for both sides. (a uncle of mine was there in Jugoslavia) At the end and in the beginning, you can clearly see German soldiers as well. Interesting also are: Beretta MAB 38s, Carcano Cavalry rifles and Breda 30 LMG firing. I hope you enjoy it. Cheers Riccardo
  4. there are some very impressive short videos of the Macchi C.202 in action in 1942, including some strafing actions as seen from on-board cameras. Interesting to see the Brixia 45mm mortar rapid firing in action as well.
  5. I found out a very interesting video this morning. It's a reportage of the re-taking of the Siwa Oasis in 1942 by Italian troops. (in that case, Young Fascists light inf.) There are very interesting footages showing a troop of AB-41 in the desert, coming under fire (from 25 pd?), maneuvering in the desert , and showing some seconds of the inside of the vehicles in action. It's interesting to see that , together with the cavalry squadron and their AB-41 there are some ex-british Morris vehicles with portee 75mm (or maybe 65mm) mounted on their rear decks. Then some images of Egyptian soldiers that cooperate with Italian troops in the Oasis. After that there is a very interesting in-action view on board a RM Torpedo-Boat in one of their convoy escort duties, showing 37mm and 20mm cannons firing at closing British torpedo and bomber planes, until the convoy reaches Africa. The video is uploaded in Youtube in a page which contains only WW2 Italian wartime newsreels. Its link is HERE
  6. Hi John. It's been ages now since I've had a look into historical archives or such similiar institutions. But I should peek around in those once again soon. I hope at least! It's really my intention to finish a small study/research on a specific battle in March 1941 in Albania, but time is really lacking as work in this period is taking its toll on my life. The sad fact though is there are quite a number of very interesting books about this period in Italy, (for example many autobiographies) with many unknown pictures and informations that unfortunately are only available here and are only written in italian.
  7. Excellent finds John! Thanks. Very interesting. IIRC that knocked out Semovente da 75 was put out of action during the battle against the Germans in Rome, not too far from where the FAO HQ is located in Rome nowadays. Interesting the neat hole from (it looks like) a rather small AP shell in its frontal armor. Maybe by a 50mm round? And the french turret was really new for me!
  8. Hello John, excellent finds about those websites and forums. I didn't look in their forum yet, but it really looks very interesting and some very unknown pictures. And the website http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/ really has lots of pictures about the battles fought from the river Volturno, north of Naples, to the town of Cassino. On the bottom of the main page, you can sort all the pictures by different methods (time period, battles, topics). If I select "The italians", this is what we get. http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/risorse/raccolta.asp?id=11#.Uc6iXPnOaSo There are pictures of either the Italian cobelligerant Army and the fascist RSI Army. Lots of very nice picture of the Italian cobelligerant army in action. Some of them are really excellent and of high quality. It looks like they went to fight at Montelungo near Cassino with their standard italian-made weapons; lots of pictures of Breda 30,37, Mod.91, 75/18 howitzers and even 105/28 Schneider Corps artillery. Really really interesting.
  9. Hello everyone, while I was looking for additional informations about the anti-tank cannon 47/32, I found out this website on the net. ( http://www.italie1935-45.com/regio-esercito/materiels/item/238-canon-de-47-32 ) It is a french website about the Italian armed forces of ww2, which has excellent photos and lots of informations and datas about many of the vehicles/armaments/planes/ships that were in service during the second world war. (it looks like it is still under construction though, as lots of planes and materials are not there yet) Especially about photos and pictures, there are many of them, with some very rare. It's in french but it is easily "translatable" through google and in-browsers translators. The name is: Italie 1939-45. Here's the link to the main page: http://www.italie1935-45.com/
  10. I made another small test, to see if in fact the main weapon of the AS-42 is somehow "fixed" and can't rotate. If I issue the "cover arc" order to one of the vehicles, and I make it face on the opposite direction, the main gun (in this case, the 20mm Breda) doesn't rotate towards the back of the vehicle, but it gets "stucked" pointing toward the front of the vehicle.
  11. Hello Sublime, I understand the problem with the AI. In fact, as with the US H/T with their MGs on either end, there is the same problem with the 2x Breda 37 on either end of the AS42. The frontal pointing gun in fact fires only straight ahead, and the back facing one only fires on that direction. These 2xMG could maybe remain like this and not move around too much for the reason stated above. For a fast comparison: with the American M3 GMC it is basically right to have the vehicle turn itself toward the target to fire, as the main gun could not rotate indipendently all around the 360° arc, but just in the frontal arc of the vehicle. In the AS-42s instead, the main weapons were installed in the middle of the vehicle in a pivot mount in order to give them a 360° arc of fire, to be able to fire in any direction and against enemy aircraft. (which was a useful solution in the desert warfare) This was maybe the biggest advantage of this vehicle. It could be considered like an armoured car without the armor around it. (and in fact it was, as the AS42 was directly based on the AB40-41 series, without its armour) In the game, the main gun acts like it is fixed and it then can be fired only ahead. I tried to make a small test to compare it with a (somewhat) similiar vehicle, the german Sdfkz 7 with the 37mm flak36 or the famous flakvierling 38. The weapons in these vehicles can fire all around an 300° (or so) arc of fire, and it is possible in fact to just point the vehicle in one direction and make the weapon fire in the rear, or in the side, as it was in real life. Maybe we could simulate the same for the AS42? I tried to set up a small scenario with both vehicles (the italian and the german ones) and it really is a pain to see and wait for the AS42 to rotate all the vehicle to point its main weapon towards the rear. It really takes a long time and it is somewhat irrealistic. With the german vehicles it is different. Some pictures Here the german gins fire directly on their 6 o'clock, while the vehicles are facing on the other direction. Here, the only possible solution for the AS 42. They have to turn themselves to fire their main weapons I found some other pictures to show the layout and how these vehicles were built and used. (sorry if some of them are taken from model kits... not many pictures around about the AS42s and no surviving examples left unfortunately)
  12. Hello everyone, since in this thread we are pointing out some errors seen in the italian army in the game, I would like to add another bug that I found out today. In practice, all the italian AS-42 scout cars can fire their weapons only when the car is positioned towards the target/enemy. In most of the pictures seen about this vehicle, the guns are pointed usually ahead, like shown here. The pivot mount on these scout cars permitted the crew to fire their main gun (the 20mm Breda, 47mm AT gun, or 20mm Solothurn) in any direction wanted. Such a characteristic was of course needed and looked after in the operations in Africa, permitting the crew to fire around all the 360° arc even against air threats. In the game, when a "fire at target" order is issues to one of the AS-42, the vehicle just turns around towards it, and only when the car is facing the target , the gun fires. It looks like the gun/cannon/mmg can't rotate indipendently. Also, strange enough, the "side-weapons" 8mm Breda 37 MMG mounted in front or in the back of the vehicle have a very little arc of fire for them. I attach a picture of an AS42 with its 47mm gun faced toward the rear of the vehicle. Or here, as seen on a model kit.
  13. Good points! And indeed, it looks like the standard infantry HMG have just 240 x 8mm rounds (instead of their full ammo load) and some cool american 60mm HE rounds (which could potentially be used as a barter should the occasion arise...) :cool: Good catch Cogust!
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