Replaces Closing With the Enemy as best CM relevant book on tactics…

[kipanderson]

Hi,

Stout Hearts: The British and Canadians in Normandy 1944. By Ben Kite.

Many of you will know that almost by tradition now the Michael Doubler book Closing With the Enemy has been considered the best overall CM relevant guide to tactics in WWII. But each to their own of course. As it deals with explaining how the Americans did things when they went well after many lessons learnt you hear little of other ways of doing things but still superb, detailed explanation of real world WWII tactics.

Stout Hearts does the same but following the adventures of the Commonwealth forces in Normandy. It is a bigger, fuller book. An incredibly detailed and well written explanation of how battalions really did fight the war. Lots and lots of detail on tactics. Wonderfully illustrated by first hand counts, but also clearly explained from a more serious, lessons learnt perspective. The two are welded together as in no other book of the many hundreds I have read on military history.

The fact that it follows the adventures of the Commonwealth forces should not put anyone off. As the Doubler book hopefully did not put off those who are not American. Such as myself.

The tactics are relevant to all nations. An example is the detailed passages on the use of anti-tank guns. Near always setup to fire through side armour. Explains why even the Soviets with their ubiquitous light weight but low energy76mm guns could often halt any German, medium armour unit. The 76mm gun could penetrate the side armour of a Panther, let alone Mark IVs, at 45 degree strike angles out to and beyond 1,000m. In “village Russia..” or Ukraine you see this when Panther battalions were ground to halt trying to fight their way into the Korsun Pocket.. to give one example. They had to clear a wide corridor by assaulting over quite long front or losses climbed quickly.

But no matter.. If you are keen fan of CM I know of no better books on the tactics than the two mentioned above. The newer Stout Hearts being the bigger better book but that is no insult to Doubler as no doubt his book was a quicker product.

Each to their own… .

Lucky to CM at all..!

All the best,

Kip.

[Bud Backer]

Looks very interesting, Kip. Best price here makes it pretty spendy though.

[Vanir Ausf B]

Looks like a winner. Thanks!

[Blazing 88's]

Should be a good read.

 

As a German unit player only, for the most part, I highly recommend adding this to the bookshelf:

Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II

Wolfgang Schneider

http://www.stackpolebooks.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=3244

Edited September 12, 2015 by Blazing 88's

[General Jack Ripper]

As a German unit player only, for the most part, I highly recommend adding this to the bookshelf:

Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II

Wolfgang Schneider

http://www.stackpolebooks.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=3244

 

That book holds pride of place on my bookshelf.

In fact, I used it as the basis for training my World of Tanks platoon in proper armor tactics, to great success.

I can also recommend a few books:

 

The German Way of War

by Robert Michael Citino

 

Panzer Operations

by Erhard Raus

 

Not exactly tactics books per se, but a good place to study operational level technique, and learn the proper form of aggressive action.

[Pak40]

That book holds pride of place on my bookshelf.

In fact, I used it as the basis for training my World of Tanks platoon in proper armor tactics, to great success.

I can also recommend a few books:

 

The German Way of War

by Robert Michael Citino

 

Panzer Operations

by Erhard Raus

 

Not exactly tactics books per se, but a good place to study operational level technique, and learn the proper form of aggressive action.

 

Have you had a go at War Thunder's Ground Forces? The tank battles are a little more realistic and a lot more satisfying than World of Tanks, for me at least. Bigger maps too where you can really outflank the enemy.

[General Jack Ripper]

Have you had a go at War Thunder's Ground Forces? The tank battles are a little more realistic and a lot more satisfying than World of Tanks, for me at least. Bigger maps too where you can really outflank the enemy.

 

Yes I have, the only problem with War Thunder is the people that play it, otherwise it's a fantastic game.

[Pak40]

Yes I have, the only problem with War Thunder is the people that play it, otherwise it's a fantastic game.

 

Hmm, I've only had a couple of issues with other players in War Thunder. In theory it should attract a more mature crowd than World of Tanks since it's more realistic. But in all honesty, I haven't played WoT since it first came out. I played it for one weekend and realized it was nothing more than a first person shooter where the player controlled a tank that acts more like buggy than a tank. I've only recently discovered War Thunder GF. I've played it for about 2-3 weeks non stop, very addicting. It really makes you appreciate the minor and major differences of every tank. The M-10 is a slow rickety beast with a very slow turret - I never knew that until I played WT - but it's true. The M-10 turret was hand cranked and took about 2 minutes to do a full 360.

[General Jack Ripper]

That's good to know, I just unlocked my M-10.