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CM: Battle of the Bulge Stream gameplay


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I have  a copy of the Very large and VERY beautiful book "Combat history of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653".  :P

Initially there were two Jagdtigers involved in the thrust toward American occupied Rimling, with another three following soon after. 22 January one Jadgtiger was a total loss from a Bazooka hit(!)  A vehicle status report 22/1/45 puts 4 operational Jadgtigers  with XXXIX Pz Corps. On Feb 5 there was a report that one of those Jagdtigers had fallen into American hands during an American surprise attack.

Another two Jagdtigers were deployed with XIV SS Army Corps against a (former Maginot line?) bunker line at Auenheim 17/1/45. A counterattack by Shermans was easily repulsed.

So not exactly entire Jagdtiger battalion's rolling forward in echelon but enough to squeeze a couple historical fights out of 'em  :)

Edited by MikeyD
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I have  a copy of the Very large and VERY beautiful book "Combat history of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653".  :P

Initially there were two Jagdtigers involved in the thrust toward American occupied Rimling, with another three following soon after. 22 January one Jadgtiger was a total loss from a Bazooka hit(!)  A vehicle status report 22/1/45 puts 4 operational Jadgtigers  with XXXIX Pz Corps. On Feb 5 there was a report that one of those Jagdtigers had fallen into American hands during an American surprise attack.

Another two Jagdtigers were deployed with XIV SS Army Corps against a (former Maginot line?) bunker line at Auenheim 17/1/45. A counterattack by Shermans was easily repulsed.

So not exactly entire Jagdtiger battalion's rolling forward in echelon but enough to squeeze a couple historical fights out of 'em  :)

I have that book as well and from my impressions, when the vehicles were noted as "operational", that doesn´t mean "combat ready" the same time. So there obviously weren´t more than 2-3 pieces at max in a given combat sector and when employed, it was made with greatest caution, considering that usually none of the maintenance units were at hand. Setting up a "realistic" CM mission would give at least 4 fighter bombers to the allied side per single Jagdtiger, or ample support from heavy artillery, or both. :D "Combat losses" from these causes were obviously the great majority.

There was also a section in the book describing an action, were 2-3 Jagdtigers were employed as indirect firing artillery on a US held ridge with an observation post, from far aback. ^^

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when the vehicles were noted as "operational", that doesn´t mean "combat ready" the same time.

 Its interesting in that contemporary field report by the Jagdtiger commander on the 22nd even HE couldn't quite remember if there was a third vehicle down the line from him or not!  Apparently all he knew was he had responsibility for two vehicles and was aware of little else besides that.

Edited by MikeyD
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In the Operational History Of The Jagdtiger book by Andrew Devey 653 did not make it in time to be useful in combat. One train of Jagdtigers was unloaded and went into to woods near the Eiffel area but was not given further orders and Hitler decided to use them in Nordwind. That being said, the author has 3 reports listed of accounts with Jagdtigers in the Ardennes. Report 1 is claimed as a misidentification with a JgPz IV in Bures on 3&4 January 1945. Report 2 was a civilian report from Maldingen west of St. Vith. This is also very suspect. Report 3 was from Colonel George Forty claiming there was a knocked out Jagdtiger in the Ardennes in 1945. He couldn't remember the location and it might have been in the Alsace. I also have the Combat History of 653 book and I'm more inclinedto believe the unit history. Its very interesting but I'm glad they included it just in case!

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Just a question regarding Chris's video. I seem to remember something about hit decals not necessarily showing in the exact place the behind the scene calculation put the hit. Is this true? 

He said that?  I must have missed it.  My impression is that the goal is that they would show the correct place.

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'Not necessarily' is the caveat. For the most part in most situations hit decals seem to be pretty exact. You may get occasional oddities where one strikes a rearview mirror or stowage bin and its gets interpreted as a hull hit, or something weird like that. But otherwise the hit decals appear to be spot-on. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more Jagdtiger info. On page 179 of "Battle of the Bulge through the lens" is a sketch drawing done after the bulge battles in '45 showing an abandoned Jagdtiger parked beside a house in the town of Maldingen Belgium, 14 km south of Poteau. The drawing was accurate enough that the author was able to locate the building and snap a pict from the same angle 45 year later. This town isn't even close to the 653rd or the 512th location so I don't know what's going on.

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Yes, both new late war textures and whitewash are in the game.

About how/when its going to be displayed - so far that's been changed three times over(!) so I can't guarantee how it'll turn out by game release. Currently whitewash shows up in January when there's snow on the ground and earlier if the scenario designer chooses to add a [whitewash] tag choice when building his scenario. Really, Ardennes didn't get its first savage snowstorm until pretty late in December (28th?) so few people would be splashing whitewash on vehicles much earlier.

Also lets remember future modules will give you Feb, March and April so whitewash is going to be around for awhile yet.  :)

I understand you can choose the style of Infantry camo, etc.  Panzergrenadier, Late war camo.. could they not do the same with vehicles?  Between White wash, Snow camo, and normal (normal being the mod you have currently)?

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A bit more Jagdtiger info. On page 179 of "Battle of the Bulge through the lens" is a sketch drawing done after the bulge battles in '45 showing an abandoned Jagdtiger parked beside a house in the town of Maldingen Belgium, 14 km south of Poteau. The drawing was accurate enough that the author was able to locate the building and snap a pict from the same angle 45 year later. This town isn't even close to the 653rd or the 512th location so I don't know what's going on.

Without checking any reference material, my guess would be that some the Jagdtigers originally destined to take part in the Bulge, made it into the Eifel/Ardennes area during december 44, but weren´t combat ready and under repair maybe. Or there wasn´t any fuel or transporting means to get the vehicle(s) united again with the parent unit, which at the time was employed with the majority of its vehicles at a different sector of the frontline (Northwind). When the vehicle(s) got operational again, it was then possibly decided on a local and desperate base to employ it/them in the immediate vicinity, where it would be of better immediate use, instead of sending the vehicle back on a prolonged, time consuming tour and in danger of heavy air attacks. That was pretty much german standard procedures in late war, to rip units apart and employ them piece meal in different sectors and mated/subordinated to different higher HQs. So who knows....

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