Sgt Joch

the two scenarios represent the battles on dec. 23rd, the U.S. attack at 1:30 pm and the German counterattack around 4 p.m. Cole has a short summary: "At Chaumont the ground assault came about 1330 on the heels of a particularly telling strike by friendly fighter-bombers. German artillery had begun to come alive an hour or so earlier, but with the Jabos in the sky the enemy gunners were quiet. Two rifle platoons mounted on tanks made a dash into the village, where more of the armored infantry soon arrived on foot. Even so, the lunge to envelop Chaumont on the west failed of its intent for the fields were thawing in the afternoon sun and the Shermans were left churning in the mud. A company of the 14th Regiment, 5th Parachute Division, tried to fight it out in the houses, but after a couple of hours nearly all the enemy had been rounded up. Then the scene changed with some abruptness. During the night a liaison officer carrying the CCB attack orders had taken the wrong turning and driven into the German lines. Perhaps the enemy had seized the orders before they could be destroyed. Perhaps the cavalry foray in the early morning had given advance warning. In any case General Kokott, commanding the 26th Volks Grenadier Division responsible for the Chaumont-Martelange sector, had taken steps to reply to the attack on Chaumont. This village lies at the bottom of a bowl whose sides are formed by hills and connecting ridges. The rim to the northeast is densely wooded but is tapped by a trail leading on to the north. Along this trail, screened by the woods, the Germans brought up the 11th Assault Gun Brigade, numbering ten to fifteen remodeled Mark III carriages. bearing 75-mm. guns and with riflemen clinging to their decks and sides. Rolling down the slope behind an artillery smoke screen, the German assault guns knocked out those American tanks they could sight and discharged their gray-clad passengers into the village. The American riflemen (Lt. Col. Harold Cohen's 10th Armored Infantry Battalion) battled beside the crippled and mired tanks in what Maj. Albin Irzyk, the veteran commander of the 9th Tank Battalion, called the bitterest fighting his battalion ever had encountered. The forward artillery observer was dead and there was no quick means of bringing fire on the enemy assault guns, which simply stood off and blasted a road for the German infantry. Company A, 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, which had led the original assault against Chaumont, lost some sixty-five men. The battle soon ended.12 In small groups the Americans fell back through the dusk to their original positions, leaving eleven Shermans as victims of the assault guns and the mud. The only officer of Company A left alive, 1st Lt. Charles R. Gniot, stayed behind to cover the withdrawal until he too was killed. Gniot was awarded the DSC, posthumously." Cole, "Ardennes", pp 527-529 http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_21.htm#p523 Major Al Irzyk, the Tank Battalion commander also posted his story: http://www.battleofthebulgememories.be/stories26/32-battle-of-the-bulge-us-army/284-battle-for-chaumont-belgium-december-23-1944.html Bruce Quarrie, "The Ardennes Offensive", southern sector, also provided some useful info especially on the OOB: http://www.bookdepository.com/Ardennes-Offensive-Southern-Sector-Bruce-Quarrie/9781855329140 Various other sources also filled in certain gaps.

You are correct, it should be "Grandrue" according to my map. That is an easy fix with the scenario editor. Regarding where the German counterattack came from, there is contradictory info . U. S. troops reported the attack came from the northwest, north and northeast. Other accounts say German troops and Stugs came from the woods in the east. The most likely spot seemed to be the area to the northeast behind the ridge.

thank you. I really enjoyed working on the scenarios. The game map is based on an actual 1943 U.S. Army map. Fortunately, the area has changed very little since then so Google Earth was a big help. Soldiers who fought there said Chaumont was at the bottom of a bowl and you really see it on the map. The U.S. OOB is very accurate down to the number and in many cases, the type of tanks. Historical leaders on both sides are marked with an asterisk. The German OOB is less accurate since there is less info, the broad strokes are correct, but there was more guesstimates involved. (spoilers) there is a controversial aspect to the German OOB in "Round 2". It is not mentioned in most histories of the battle, but I found enough indirect references to warrant "their" inclusion. I will let you guys figure it out.

That would be me, I did both.

so I dusted off my copy of Craig's "Enemy at the Gates" which I think is one of the first OstFront book I ever bought. The Zaitsev-Major Konings sniper duel is related on pages 127-130. Vassili Zaitsev, the character played by jude law, was a real figure with 242 confirmed kills. He was well known during the battle since Soviet media publicized his kills. According to Craig, the Germans sent in a ringer, Major Konings, specifically to kill Zaitsev. Konings had studied all he could on Zaitsev. Zaitsev was warned by Soviet intelligence officers, but took no special precautions, Then in short order, two top Soviet snipers were killed. Figuring Konings was responsible, Zaitsev went on the hunt for several days, trying to find spots where he would hide. He finally found a spot where he thought Konings was hiding, spent most of the day maneuvering into a good firing position, had another soldier raise a helmet as a target and when Konings fired and revealed himself, shot him dead. This all taken from Zaitsev's autobiography. A good story, but there are doubts it is true. According to other sources I have read in the past, this was all made up by Soviet propagandists after the war and there never was a "Major Konings". According to other sources, "Major Konings" was a composite of several German snipers killed by Zaitsev. According to another article I had read in the past, the Germans did want to kill Zaitsev to score a propaganda victory and did send in one of their top snipers to find him, but he was never able to track Zaitsev and eventually went home. So elements of the story are true, but they have been spun along the way to turn into a more interesting yarn.

yes the movie is loosely based on facts, even the plot about the Germans bringing an elite sniper to take on the Russian snipers. There were apparently articles about that in 1942. Some sources say it is propaganda, some sources say it is true.

Stalingrad:

In Darkness:

Katyn:

the WW2 genre is not dead, just that Hollywood has moved on. Some great movies coming out from Europe and Asia: City of Life and Death

excellent Juju, another must have mod!

Cole's book is excellent, I have read large chunks of it. Parts have been corrected or filled out by later works, but it is still excellent reference material.

The 90 mm Gun is a perfect example of a weapon which was designed for a threat which never materialized. It was ordered at a time when the U.S. thought it would be facing hordes of German tanks and aircraft and they wanted a powerful defensive AT/AA gun. By the time they were deployed, both threats had disappeared. Almost 8,000 were built, most wound up in storage or deployed in rear areas. The only time they were used in combat in a AT role was in rare situations like the Bulge where the Germans went on the offensive and managed to penetrate deep behind Allied lines. 76 mm HVAP (APCR in game) is present in CMFB, but still rare during the December battles. The Chieftain Hatch had an article on that, production was ramped up in late 1944, but HVAP only became more generally available in 1945. http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/21/us-guns-german-armor-part-2/

were TC's bullet magnets?, you can find anecdotes to support any viewpoint: "To protect CCA's open right flank, Gaffey ordered Col. Wendell Blanchard to form the Reserve Combat Command as a balanced task force (using the 53d Armored Infantry Battalion and 37th Tank Battalion) and advance toward Bigonville. Early on 23 December CCR left Quatre-Vents, followed the main road nearly to Martelange, then turned right onto a secondary road which angled northeast. This road was "sheer ice" and much time was consumed moving the column forward. About noon the advance guard came under fire from a small plot of woods near a crossroads at which point CCR would have to turn due north. The accompanying artillery battalion went into action, pouring high explosive into the woods for nearly an hour. One rifle company then dismounted and went in to clean out the survivors. The company found no serious resistance, returned to the road, and was just mounting its half-tracks when a fusillade of bullets burst from the little wood. Apparently the enemy had withdrawn during the shelling, only to return at the heels of the departing Americans. Tanks were now sent toward the crossroad but were stopped by mines. All this had been time-consuming. Bigonville was still a mile away, and Blanchard ordered a halt. The enemy in the woods continued to inflict casualties on the troops halted beside the road. Even the tankers were not immune-nearly all of the tank commanders of one company were picked off by rifle fire. In the course of the night the Germans left the wood and fell back to the shelter" Cole, "Ardennes", p. 530 http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_21.htm#p530

keep moving! keep moving! time is against you. You can rest when you have won!

true, but you can get the exact same combat results with the M36. again, I am just passing along the official position. This is the base game, just because the 90 mm is not in now does not mean it may not eventually make an appearance in a vehicle pack down the line.

you have to create the 3d model and the specific crew animations. A lot of work for a weapon that rarely saw any combat use.

It was discussed but the 90mm gun was almost exclusively used in rear areas. It was not felt the investment was worthwhile for the few times it was actually used in combat.

There are only two setup zones for the U.S. player, one for units in and around the village of Chaumont and one for all other units south of the village. Since the scenario starts shortly before the German attack, the idea is to prevent the U.S. player from pulling all its units out of sight behind the southern ridgeline. Historically, the U.S. forces had very little warning before the attack, basically as much as you get now in the scenario.

On the ME-262, re-read what Tooze had to say on it. The protoype first flew in the summer of 1942 and Hitler gave it top priority, although that did not mean much in the Third Reich since he seemd to give top priority to a pet project every month or so. Messerschmitt had been burned on the ME-210 project when he hurried into mass production so he dragged his heels on the ME-262, presenting other alternative projects instead. To be fair, there were also massive technological challenges in getting the first jet fighter in the air, not least of which was a serious lack of raw materials . However the real problem was Speer. He had been expanding his authority over armaments production, but could not get authority over Luftwaffe procurement because of Goering. When he found out the V1/V2 program was an "Army" project and therefore under his authority, he used that to try to get authority over the Luftwaffe indirectly. Speer got Hitler to give the V2 rocket program "top priority" in the summer of 1943 and then used that to siphon resources to the V1/V2 program. So in 1943-44, the V1/V2 and the ME-262 were all competing for resources with the results that we know. OTOH, even if the ME-262 had been given top priority, it is doubtful it would have appeared more than say 6 months before it did. The ME-262 first flew in july 1942 and became operational in July 1944. The British jet, the Gloster Meteor, first flew in march 1943 and also became operational in july 1944.

Hitler having delayed the introduction of the ME262 by asking for a bomber version is apparently a myth. Tooze discusses it in "Wages of destruction" at p. 620 and following. http://www.amazon.ca/The-Wages-Destruction-Breaking-Economy/dp/0143113208#reader_0143113208 Seems the Reich Air Ministry and Milch pushed as much as possible to have it come out quickly and go into mass production, but to simplify, Messerschmitt had technical issues and Speer diverted raw material/resources to other projects. Again, according to Tooze, the myth was constructed after the war by Galland, Messerschmitt and Heinkel to place all the blame on Hitler. Again that is not unusual, there were a lot of self serving biographies that came out right after the war where important figures in German business/Army blamed Hitler for all of their mistakes. p.s. - Tooze "Wages of destruction" is essential reading for any WW2 nut.

On the 5th Fallschirmjager, Cole has a different viewpoint: (pp. 214-215) http://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-8-1/index.html

Cole in his book on the Ardennes (1965) on p. 178 mentions that the 2nd Panzer division had Panthers with Infra red sights for the offensive, but I have not found any other source that confirms that. http://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-8-1/index.html

you have to hit enter a few times until the new window appears it only seems to work if you click at the end of a paragraph for some unknown reason. I will be glad when the new site is up and running. It is really not user friendly at the moment. p.s. please carry on.

click where you want to break and hit return/enter until it breaks into a separate quote window.