Durutti

I was thinking along the same lines myself...

Thanks for the interesting comments, Los. My reading of 'A Bridge Too Far' is that the British paras trapped in the 'Cauldron' took Benzamine for the same reasons as you stated - constant day and night fighting in what was meant to be a limited op. The implication from Helmut Ritgen's book (I notice he appears in the Villers Bocage Op as a crack (no pun intended...) PzIV commander) was that some Canadian units were issued 'benzies' on a routine basis during the Normandy campaign at least and this had severe psychological effects. What exactly was the legal status of these kinds of drugs in the military, post war and after? Certainly seems like an untold history. I must confess to taking amphetamines twice many years ago and have had no desire to take them since. I imagine prolongued use would be quite devastating.

Don't wish to add fuel to the flames or get into a nationalistic wrangle but 'Caen: Anvil of Victory' by Mckee has something to say about the Panzer Meyer controversy. Amongst the eyewitness accounts are extensive interviews with Sgt.Gariepy of 2nd Canadian Armd Bde. 'On June 8th, a group of Canadian prisoners were executed by the Germans, and on June 9th, before the morning conference at Ardenne Abbey, Meyer was shown the bodies of a similar group of German prisoners, who had obviously been lined up and shot through the head by the Canadians. Meyer was later held nominally responsible for the murder of the Canadians and his judge was the former Brigadier H W Foster...no Canadian general was ever held responsible for the murder of the Germans, or any explanation tendered for a notebook entry found by the Germans on a Canadian captain on June 7th to the effect that prisoners would not be taken. The death sentence on Meyer was commuted by the Canadian GOC, Gen. Crerar, despite protests by those ignorant of the background.' Gariepy goes on to say he was glad the sentence was lifted and implies that the Nuremburg trials were at this stage becoming discredited as unease grew at charges against German combat commanders when allied troops were known to have committed similar atrocities. No allied troops were charged with war crimes - Russian judges even helped try Germans accused of the Katyn Wood massacre of Polish officers which the Red Army itself had committed. 'In a dugout Lieutenant Miller found two disguised Germans, one in the uniform of an English captain, the other in the uniform of a British soldier. Realizing the consequences of such an offence against the laws of war, the two SS men resist to the death. No prisoners are taken this day on either side.' '"I witnessed a real carnage of infantry troops (Germans) in a field close to Carpiquet" wrote Sergeant Gariepy..."The Regiment de la Chaudiere scurried in the semi-darkness and actually slit the throats of most soldiers they found, wounded as well as dead. This horrible carnage I actually saw from the turret of my tank at first light. These boys were actually crazed by some frenzy at being caught napping; the officers of the Regiment had to draw their pistols against their own men to make them come back to reason..."' '...However, from then on, variations of the phrase, "No quarter given on either side this day", toll through the individual narratives, the Regimental histories and even the Divisional histories...' '...This was the usual pattern: snipers who would pick off two, three or four men of an advancing platoon, then as they came to close quarters, stand up and surrender. The men whose friends had just been shot by him did not always feel inclined to let the killing stop at that point...' (all quotes from 'Caen: Anvil of Victory, Alexander McKee) Extreme stress and anger at the loss of friends are difficult to cope with, after all, how do you get ordinary guys to kill another bunch of 'ordinary guys' who probably have more in common with each-other than the leaders of their respective countries who are telling them to do the killing? Part of the initial training is usually to instill extreme nationalistic hatred of 'the others' to effect this transition. Again from McKee:- '...It is no wonder the German troops believe Nazi propaganda about Canadian troops being savages with scalping knives. Many of the captured enemy are quite surprised to find these Canadians ...are really quiet, civilized, calm and well-diciplined when one meets them after the battle.' Another reason for atrocities? How about that other 'Secret History'-the official use of drugs by the combatants in WW2. I don't know if US troops were issued stimulants (anybody got info?) but the British, Germans and Canadians certainly were:- '...a Canadian scouting party returning to its unit surprised the command group. The one-armed Oberst Luxemburger was struck down and tied to one of the reconnaissance tanks. The enemy tank was later destroyed by an anti-tank gun...After crossing the Channel, the Canadians had to overcome the exhaustion of the subsequent day-long combat operations by taking Benzamine, stay-awake tablets. These "Benzies"- similar to the German Pervitin, increased one's physical capability, but also reduced scrupulousness and thus increased one's bloodthirstiness- were a continuation of the despised chemical warfare of the First World War in another form...' ('The Western Front 1944: Memoirs of a Panzer Lehr Officer'-Helmut Ritgen) Cornelius Ryan mentions 'Benzies' being used by the British Airborne at Arnhem in 'A Bridge Too Far'. It turned many into complete loons and at least one instance of surrendering Germans being shot is given. Interestingly Ryan explains this away as 'battle-stress', whereas the single instance of a surrendering British soldier being killed is described as 'typical SS brutality'. My point is you can't always take 'received wisdom' at face value. The Chinese troops at Tianeman Square weren't the first to get dosed up on 'Speed' in order to turn them into killing machines.

"My Sgt got kilt" Nah, not the Coldstreams (English Regt.) obviously the Gordon Highlanders or some such. The KOSBs, like the Scots Guards, were a bunch of Lowlanders and wore tartan trews...

Perhaps it was one of those 'genuine' King Tigers used in the 'Battle of the Bulge' movie

It's a pity the battles of the 21st Panzer Division in Normandy won't be possible in CM as this was probably the most heavily engaged German unit in the whole campaign. Its 23 Somua tanks were replaced by old short barrelled PzIV Bs and Cs during June 1944 but most of the rest of the division was equipped with captured French equipment such as SP AT, mortars and HE guns on H39, Lorraine and Somua HT chassis. French Unic P107 HTs were even used to carry pzgrenadiers. Kampfgruppe Luck was perhaps one the most famous elements of the Division using this equipment and the major battles they were involved in means that the French vehicles gain far more significance than mere numbers produced. Here's hoping they will be added later on??

From reading a couple of books on the battles around Caen it seemed that whenever the Allies tried to make air attacks during a 'close-up' fire fight they almost inevitably knocked out some of their own vehicles through mis-identification. The radio comms were just too crude then. Coloured flares to indicate 'friendlies' were one solution adopted but even then on several occasions (eg Operation Tractable) the RAF and USAAF got the colours mixed up and killed many of their own side. Added to this was the fact that the Germans caught onto this tactic and fired off their own 'friendly' coloured flares just to confuse the issue! Just wondering how this sort of 'friendly-fire' is simulated?

Not sure but I think the graphical representation seems to go from 'intact' looking buildings to rubble. I assumed there were intermediate levels of 'ruin' behind this and that the amount of cover afforded to occupants would gradually degrade. I am correct? OK, it would be nice if there were one intermediate 'ruin' graphic but this might not be possible re processor power etc? It would be nice if you could place light/medium A/T guns in such a ruin as well; placing them on piles of rubble is not quite the same. Thanks

If I can make a plea to the designers it would be for as many different texture slots for the infantry types as possible. For instance, different 'leg' and 'helmet' slots for the Germans would be great so you could have the majority wearing ankle boots/gaiters (regulation for the late war and always worn by Gebirgsjaeger) but a few wearing the old jackboots. My sources say it was only mainly 'Ost battalions' transferred from the east that still wore the latter. For the helmets it would be great to have the ability to make camo covers in both SS 'spotty' and Heer 'splinter' etc. I realise we all want a game created 'in our own image' as it were so please bear with us

Just for information, AVREs (doled out from the 79th)were used in support of the Brit 11th Armoured Division when it spearheaded the major Goodwood operation. They were used in a mixed group consisting of Sherman Crabs, recce troops and carrier platoons just behind the two leading tank squadrons.

On the subject of buildings, can you butt houses together into terraced rows like so many european inner-cities have? Thanks

LOL Fionn BTW, Have you seen any of those 'Die Deutschen Panzer' series of videos from VAF? If you're a Puma fan you'll love No.8 in the series 'Half-tracks and Armoured Cars' - it features some ultra-rare newsreel footage of a troop of Pumas, from the 'Lehr', on patrol near St Lo...

Must admit when I first saw the church I thought it was white painted wood plank but on looking at it closer, saw it was stone. I take the point about texture mods but that won't alter the shape. Its the dinky little spire that makes it look 'un-european' to many people I think. OK maybe just cosmetic but it would be a nice atmospheric touch to have a few different churches to choose from. I would take a guess that the most popular campaigns in CM will be Normandy, Bulge and Market Garden? So how about just a generic example of architecture from each? How about a church with a big solid Norman style tower like a castle's (with the typical pointy roof on top perhaps)? Just a suggestion. Great game.

Slightly surprised the AVRE isn't in; 180 were converted from mk IIIs and IVs for Normandy alone. They were also used for the duration of the NW Europe campaign. Now the German Puma A/C, that was a RARE vehicle. Only 101 ever built and only half those served in the west (in two Pz Divs; Pz Lehr and 2nd Pz)

In the Combat Mission scale of things I don't think you would need too much in the way of Spanish Civil War politics IMHO - as long as you don't have anarchists and communists together. Then you'd probably need a random chance they start fighting amongst themselves Just think of using all those improvised armoured trucks the anarchists built from old boilers! Keep the black flag flying guys!