SgtMuhammed

M.D. Did you mean to say something?

There is an acronym you here mentioned alot in the military (the U.S. at least) METT-T (pronounced met-tee). It stands for Mission, Enemy, Troops, Terrain, and Time. What it means is that everything is relative and flexable. Sometimes units will have a wealth of resources to accomplish a simple mission while others you will have nothing and be expected to hold back the enemy's main thrust. You just deal with what you have and adjust your actions accordingly. Sometimes recon units were assigned missions with only their internal assets. These could be anything from their ACs and HTs to their recon infantry. If they were lucky, or if the objective were important enough, they might be reinforced by other division assets.

One reason I can't wait to get back to the States, being able to get books that don't take me a month to read (my German is less than stellar).

In actual terms of what the "gun hit" represents it can be a number of things. It can be actual damage to the gun itself, broken barrel or a penetration into the breach block for example, or it can be a hit that dislodges the gun from its mount or jams it into an inoperable position. It could also mean damage to things other than the gun itself. A hit to the sighting optics or one that happens to disconnect the firing mechanism. There are lots of ways to cause damage to a combat vehicle, many of which have little or no outward sign (i.e. the AH64 that was shown on Iraqi TV).

Jason, You are going to have to post a list of your library. I'll take a shot at the second question. The recon battalions were used in a variety of roles. They were used as traditional recon forces as well as flank guard for the main attack and as screening forces in the defense. They were also used as ready reserve or as an extra infantry battalion, especially later in the war. This tendency to embroil the recon elements in the main battle was one weakness of the German tactical practices. The American's, for example, had dedicated recon troops in the form of cavalry groups, which were permanent organizations. Commiting recon forces to the main battle tends to rob the unit of its situational awareness. Of course many units had little choice. Recon battalions were also used to take minor (and sometimes not so minor) objectives in conjunction with the main attack (small villiages or positions on the flank were normal objectives). They were often reinforced for these missions but not always. In most units the recon elements were in nearly constant action.

Whether they were widely used in the Pacific or not is moot as BFC has already stated that they will do a Pacific Theater version when hell freezes over.

Sten knockoffs were a favorite of resistance movements because they could be easily manufactured in backyard factories. One of its only real merits.

M.D. What did the Germans actually carry in their promask cases? I know lots of people ditched theirs once it became appearent that no one was using gas. Many Americans just got rid of them case and all. Good place to store comfort items but I would imagine they were in short supply. James P.S. Is it just me or do color photos of WWII seem wrong somehow. I know its silly but I always picture it in black and white. Too many newsreels I guess. [ May 27, 2003, 04:13 AM: Message edited by: sgtgoody (esq) ]

Send it my way man. Sgtgdy@netscape.net

One must also take into account the situation when talking about the state of a unit's artillery park. Units set into the defense had less priority than those set to attack. There was also a tendency to bunch batteries at higher levels to try and maximize their punch in important sectors. Things like this lead to local deficiencies while overall the picture is entirely different. Jason, though, is entirely right. The biggest limiting factor for arty was supply. Even the Allies had sever problems with this and nearly ran out at several points. Supply problems can occur without attack on one's supply lines. American problems, for example, were caused by bad decisions on the production and procurement front as well as priority of supply problems because of the limited availability of port space. All of this was without constant attacks on the lines of communication. Tubes were easy to make and so were rounds but getting them together often proved to be the hard part.

Try here: The Scenario Depot I just put up an operation based on the northern shoulder of Kursk. You will find it listed as Model.

The Brummbars are there but they are set as Battalion Reserve. You should get them after taking fairly moderate losses. I did a test run and got them after losing some halftracks and a couple PIVs. Thanks again. Look for my next effort: Bullets, Blankets, and Beans. Coming soon to a server near you.

This also tends to make them burn longer. Having burning gas on your tank might not destroy it but it will often make the crew freak out and leave. Don't underestimate the power of the "OH S*** WE'RE ON FIRE!" factor.

I had some engineers assault a German squad in a heavy building. They had the Germans down to their last 2 men when someone gets the bright idea that he needed to use a demo-charge to finish them off. Lets just say it brought the house down.

You always have a chance to bog. It not only represents getting stuck but also mechanical breakdown.

Maybe someone left all the doors open.

My experiences with them have run the entire spectrum. I have had them die from the first shot and during the same fight take on entire platoons of Tigers and keep knocking out light vehicles. I think they could be improved by making them a terrain type feature rather than a vehicle but I have had generally good experiences with them. As to firing slit penetrations, even a 20mm would be like a grenade going off inside a room not much bigger than the average bedroom. It is not a pleasant experience.

Thank you to everyone. You guys all were a great help. The finished version is posted at the Scenario Depot. Scenario Depot

Just emailed it to you. Hope it works. Just make a backup copy of the Barbarosa to Berlin exe file and rename it but keep it an exe file. It should work fine. I have three versions running right now. Can't wait till the actual patch comes out so I can clear up some space.

IIRC in CMBO the AI was a lot more reluctant to fire good rounds until it got the range with lesser stuff like HE. It is a little better in CMBB.

Trying to understand religion is like trying to have sex with your wife after forgetting her birthday. It just isn't going to happen.

Go into the scenario editor and hit the load key. Then click on the name of the scenario you want to edit. If it is not tournament saved you will be able to edit it. If it is I think you need a password.

Lots of Sonnen Studios over here. That and half the German population seems to holiday in Majorca.

Just a general comment as to how much information an attacking unit can expect to have about the enemy. Most of the time it is even less than the worst briefing you get in a CMBB scenario. For some reason the enemy never seems to want to cooperate. They tend to move around, especially if they think you know where they are. Even in situations where the enemy does cooperate often your own people wont. I had several squad leaders and who's Op Orders went something like this. "Ok we are moving here 5 or 10 klicks and attacking or defending that hill, I don't remember. There were a couple of phase lines but I forgot to write them down." Me: "Do we know about the enemy?" "No. They said something but I wasn't paying attention." Me again: "Ok so basically a walk till dawn and shoot whatever we come across." "Something like that." Even without this extreem case there is still the old "Captain, your company needs to take that hill. We have no idea what is up there but we need that hill."

I think you are right, which explains the really wierd numbers you can get sometimes.