Johan Brittz

Preferably CE, but LD also ok, but not Riesberg - had enough of that one looks like there's still at least 6 weeks to go before da GOLD - so lets practise.. ********************* Whoa - thanx guys that's enough - got 4 replies already - taking the 1st 3 - still need some time to sleep as well [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 02-12-2000).]

TS - hah! I owed/still owe? EF & WF, but took them off the same day I got the CM Beta. I'm not the least surprised to hear about the mass resignation. To take their board as an example: Uptight/snotty and insecure - just go on there and mention CM - I dared it once (also the last time I went in there) and was promptly warned off via e'mail... BTS/CM is a breath of fresh air. I was with them for about 2 years, but never felt comfortable - hardly ever posted, because the risk of being flamed was always there. Thought their customer service stank - mentioned it once and was flamed all to hell.. What comes around.. hah

Captain Harlo J. "Jack" Sheppard Normandy, July 10, 1944 These recruits walked up to us, and one of them looked at me and said, "Hey, Mac, what in the hell happened to you?" And the first sergeant said, "Shut your mouth, that's a company commander!" That must have made their day. If a company commander can get looking like that, what's going to happen to them? I still had my combat jacket, and it had bloodstains on it. And my face was bandaged, my hand was bandaged, and I still had the most glorious black eye, you know what a mouse is? I had two of them after that from the concussion. There's only three unit citations in the 712th. One of them is for the first platoon, C Company. I was with it at the time. And the reason they got it was because the battalion of infantry got it, and their attached units get it, that's the way we got it. Okay, we take Hill 122. Going down off the hill was another story. I'm taking this tank to [Lieutenant Jim] Flowers, it's one of his tanks that had been knocked out and we got a replacement for. He only had three tanks, this would give him four. Going up the hill, it was raining. The Signal Corps had their wires strung alongside the hill, and we had to contact them to come and hold the wires back in case the tanks started slipping, because if a tank slipped into the wires the tracks would just chew up the wires. We got hell for that when somebody else went up there and chewed them up. We got up on the top of the hill and we were going down towards Flowers when a lieutenant colonel stopped me. I was in a jeep leading the tank, with [sergeant James] Bailey as my driver, and this colonel stopped us. He says, "I need some tanks down there. I've got a battalion that's surrounded by SS and they need tank support but bad." I said, "Well, let me see if I can get Flowers released." He was down with another battalion, I don't know which. I called the division commander, and he by voice authorized me, so I called up Flowers, and he came back and joined us. And when I talked to him I said, "There's only three men in the tank, you need a driver and you need a commander, so Bailey will take over as driver and I'll take over as commander, but you are the platoon leader, I'm just another tank in your platoon." So he says okay. He says, "You follow behind [sergeant Abe] Taylor." So they pulled out in front of me and we pulled along behind them. Flowers I think fired the machine gun a few times, and all of a sudden we were with this battalion. Then we were given orders that we're going to attack across the road. The road went past a big open field with a hedgerow at the far end. Flowers and K Company of the 358th Infantry Regiment were going to take that hedgerow. Famous last words. So we pulled up to the road, all in a line, and fired at the hedgerow with the gun and the machine gun, just raked it, and high-explosive, all to hell. So the platoon leader of the infantry gets out there and says, "Let's go!" So we all go, tanks and infantry, the infantry behind the tanks. We just get across the road, and my tank hits a hog wallow, a mud hole, and tips over. All it would do was that track would just spin, no traction whatsoever. So we were just sitting there. I had my head out the turret. You always had your head out unless you were being shot at. I had my carbine in my hand, in case I saw something. About that time, the tanks disappeared over the hedgerow. Then a round came in from the right and hit the gunner's periscope, and blasted straight on through to the other side of the tank. Back in this corner is our little joe, which was our gasoline motor, it was a generator, to keep the battery up. That was shredded. All of the recoil cylinders in the gun had holes punched in them, so the gun couldn't be fired. The radio, which was in the back of the turret, was full of holes, and it didn't work. So we had no reason for staying in the tank, and [Corporal Louis] Gerrard has his right eye hanging on his cheek, he was in bad shape. He was not unconscious, but he was in extreme pain. He was non compos mentis, I guess you'd put it. So we all got out and got behind the tank, and they were looking after him, and I had, my face was blasted, I was leaking blood all over my face, and we were trying to figure out what to do, and I said, "I'll tell you what. You all stay here and take care of his wounds, and I'll go back across the road, to see if I can get a stretcher and send it back." I did that. But while I was jogging back, my jaw was flopping up and down. I had a piece of shrapnel, how big is your thumb? Can you see the scar right there? It went through and knocked a tooth out, but it stayed right there. So I pulled it out and put it in my pocket. I was going to keep it, I don't know what ever happened to it. But I found a medic and sent him and a stretcher back up. But before he got there, one of the other guys from the crew found me, he said two German SS men had come up and Bailey started to fight with them, and they killed him. I don't know how, but they killed him. And the other two guys played dead and let the Germans search them and take their watches and so forth, they didn't bother the injured men, I don't think. I was under the impression at the time that the medics had brought Gerrard back, or I would never have left him. Because that tank was accessible. It was just across the road and you could get to it. Flowers' tank was across the next hedgerow, which was enemy territory. This was no man's land. Some infantrymen there said, "Hey, didn't you know that they were shooting at you?" They said two rounds, with tracers, went over our heads before the third one hit. I never saw them. Never heard them. And then they said, "Did you see those tanks on fire up ahead?" That's when I first noticed the three columns of smoke. http://www.sonic.net/~bstone/tanks/kids.html

Hi Cpt, When I was your age in the 60's I was in a boarding school. No long hair, no bell bottoms, no radio allowed because we might listen to rock music and be corrupted!! All the above punishable by 6 cuts. Myself and a small group (3%? 5%?) of the kids in that school thought it was crazy and said so. We were outcasts. We did'nt have the vocabulary or the experience to voice our thoughts - just our gut instinct. The teacher corp (most of them not all) - came out of the waryears and to them everything was either black or white. We were EVIL - simple as that. Most of the kids agreed and made it clear to us (appy hippies) daily in a variety of interesting ways. One on one few of them would've dared to challenge us in debate (or otherwise , but since they were the moral majority and we were freaks they were safe... Ya get my drift.. I've got 4 kids - if any of them turn out to have your guts/thick skin - I'll be quite happy If you've got a question - ASK! If you want to say something - Say IT!!! If you irritate some of the guys! Tough! Keep going - You might just remind them of their youth - people's memories are so short... [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 01-28-2000).]

46 and as far as I know the only CM fan in Africa - wargames don't do to well here - we're too busy doing the Real THanG!! Ahh the smell of burning babies in da bush!! Napalm Njagh!! we use tires - cheaper and more hands-on

Mayor/Spook - Small world - Just been reading Dunnigan's "The Russian Front" and in discusing the organization of the German forces he makes this point: "These elite divisions (SS, Grossdeutschland etc) were another German mistake. To be sure, in many cases these units performed better than similar non-elite units. This can be attributed to the larger organization and superior equipment of these units. They also had first pick of available manpower, but this was their biggest drawback. Qualified men who could be be NCO's or officers in regular units were used as privates or NCO's in the "elite" units. Germany could not afford to underutilize her manpower in such a fashion. The same applied for the concentrations of scarce weapons and equipment. While these units (primarily armored) were held in reserve, other mobile units were beaten to a pulp, unable to obtain the men and equioment they needed..." So this brings up the question for modern armies: Where do you draw the line. Certainly some elite units are needed for specific jobs. But the line need to be drawn at the size of these units. It also looks like it might be a problem specific to dictators (Saddams Guards?) who need loyal (well paid) elite units in case of revolt by the army. I also remeber the mess that mixing the two types can cause - remember what happened with "Blackhawk Down" in Somalia - Rangers and the Delta's - comm FUs for Africa (pun intended) BTW - that must be the best coverage of a (recent) battle I've ever seen - have a look: http://www.philly.com/packages/somalia/nov17/default17.asp [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 01-05-2000).]

Ah guys - let them get on with it - all you have to do is start a new series of games - every time I think I'm bored with the demo games I start a new one and realise they all come out different - anybody interested in a mirror game? (love them for the comparison in tactics) BTS - have a good break

Uh - here in Africa (esp north of South Africa) things might be a bit more interesting - worked for a while as programmer on municipal systems (I'm stocking up big time)

Hehe - I've got one, but she's only 18 months and NO-ONE TOUCHES HER!! Come you youngsters - the old farts on this board are out of ideas...

Am organising a Y2KBC party for new-mill eve: Partygoers dressing in skins (fake) - meat over open fire - all food eaten by hand from leaves; sharp stones the only utensils; drinks out of cocanut shells; 60's music (can't go further back than that!!? Any other ideas? - I've noticed that there's a couple of weirdo's frequenting this board - have you got any ideas to add?? Much appreciated

North Africa - desert terrain - manouvre - manouvre - manouvre - FUN!! Dense forest - massed troops packed as close as what the unit outline will allow and then watch the AI have all the fun? Nope - my vote is with BTS's scheme of things as it stands - if they bring out POF later - no problem - will buy it as well, but don't jump the planned queue. Know that's not what you're asking Bill

Fionn If you got my 3 mails (23rd; 24th; and today) don't reply - else let me know. Ta

schurlock - with that bloody title you're going to give a thousand guys a 60's ride - UP!!!! D..O..W..N..!!

Afrikaans is a mixture of Dutch (mostly) German, English, French, Malay and Holywood. 300 years ago a large tribe called the British Empire invaded us (they kept on doing this every 50 years or so for a couple of centuries) and after a while the locals got pissed of with the invasions and being made slaves, but mostly because this Empire tribe had some real weird habits (drinking warm beer and drinking tepid water with leaves in it at funny hours - we had nothing against leaves - most of us smoked a wide variety of the stuff) so we all packed up and moved into darkest Africa. On the way we created Afrikaans, because only the homosexuals amongst us could get the English 'th' sound right and every english word has got that sound. We had some nice fights on the way in land, but then some arsehole discovered gold and the Empire tribe invaded us again to steal it. We could'nt go north again - some guy gave us a good price for our oxwagons - so we decided to fight the Empire tribe for a change. We had a roaring time - they had the weird (again) habit of marching their troops in lines all dressed up in red over the khaki veldt - talk about a shooting gallery!! If you got the angle right you could shoot 9 guys with one bullet! Anyway: after a couple of years we got bored and since the All Blacks were slaves of the Empire they were'nt allowed to play rugby against us so we stopped the war and went home. We stayed their slaves for a while and then "democracy" came and since they are bad lovers (and bad rugby players) we out-voted them. We took over the Empire tribe's black slaves until a warder heard their leader - a guy called Mandela - pray in Afrikaans. The next day we released him. Since then we've been the slaves of the local black tribes - because of "democracy" and since they're better lovers than us.... and so it goes, but not a single 'th' sound in Afrikaans.. Geseende Kersfees almal (Happy Xmas all)

Cape Town GMT+2

Pieter Soldaat - waar is jy vandaan?

Noticed in the unit descriptions in one of the (GREAT!!) Heavy Metal shots that the Panthers have a "Silhouette: 118" and the Jumbo a "Silhouette: 105". What does this indicate: size? Square meters? Drool shots BTW Matt & Fionn and I love the new textures! You can smell the love that's gone into it - well sort of

Well - I don't want to sound greedy, but give me both! I like SS's (felt like adding a couple more ss'ss) idea for FOW - nothing like going in totally blind, but I do forsee some very unballanced games which are a pain in the arse if it's 40 turns long - ok you can surrender I imagine On the other hand I also love mirror games - you lose FOW up to a point - you know what he's got, but not where they are. But the great thing about mirror is the comparison/learning from watching your opponents manouvres. Secondly it will always be the only true ballanced game - even if the Axis are stronger/weaker - they will be stronger/weaker for both players and Finally it will always be the only true test of who is the better player (Oh except for bad/luck of course / So make my night and organise two ladders/tournaments! [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 12-22-99).]

Great idea Stryker - handy for finding opponents of the same weakness Hope you know what you're letting yourself in for or will all the player/game updates be automated? BTW won't TGN be offering something simmilar? [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 12-22-99).]

I'm in South Africa and on holiday. My bloody in-laws are visiting and I can't stand my dear mother-in-laws squeeky voice - so I need help. Anyone - any side - any scenario - a mirror game even better - any thing to help me stay out of the living room.... AAGHHH! PS - I've got nothing against you americans, but you keep weird hours

Hi Mike You said: "My understanding is that Pause WILL operate at any waypoint..." Is this your understanding of how pause works now or do you know something that I've missed? Are you one of the testers? Is this to be included in the new (Gold) version? Hope so..

In/Out will be confusing though when playing mirror games (also reminds me of a bossy girfriend I had). Just talked to one opponent and the best we came up with is to go without the date since most browsers will sort by that in any case and the rounds should tell you what's last. So for mirror games where Gary is playing Axis, he will send: AxisGaryJohan15M AxisGaryJohan16P or AxisGaryJohan16P17M If you just say 16PM you dont know if the 16 refered to the Movie or the Plot since the round changes between the two phases. For normal games you will know which side your playing, but since you might still (more than likely) be playing multiple opponents use: GaryJohan16P GaryJohan16M GaryJohan16M17P or shorten it to GJ16P etc I create a directory for each of my opponents and when playing mirror: two sub directories: Axis and US. After playing I rename the PBEM file and move it into the relevant sub-directory from where I mail it. That's the best I can come up with now - any other ideas? Uh - Gary just send this: "OK - How About This "December181999-15-29-00-April021945-GaryStockbridgeversusJohanbritz-awe some-7-Blue-Sgt Earnhardt-cpl wolfgang-sgt Norton-Last Defense-48-Clinton-Frank.txt" This will have the following: * Today's date, hour, minute and second (military time) * The date the scenario took place * The opponents * The feeling after the latest movie watched * My favorite number * My favorite color * Bravest soldier to date in the game * First to die in the game * First to crack under fire * Favorite released scenario to date * Expected hours playing final game without a break * Current leader of my country * Favorite General So what do you think of this naming convention? Perhaps I missed a few pertinent details? [This message has been edited by Johan Brittz (edited 12-18-99).]

Searched, but did'nt find anything (maybe we can start shortening that to: SBDFA or SBTWTMBPTR: Searched But There Were Too Many Bloody Posts To Read) Anyway, had some problems with some of my opponents in that we don't know if or when we can discuss a round - has he seen it yet or am I going to spoil his fun? Then one of my opponents came up with: DDMMMynameRoundPhaseRoundPhase eg.; 1812Johan14M15P - the date helps for sorting purposes; 14M (movie) 15P (plot). And then if you're playing a mirror game and have several games going against various opponents you can have: DDMMMynameYournameSideRoundPhaseRoundPhase, eg.: 1812JohanGaryAxis14M15P Over the top? Does help though in showing you exactly what your opponent has seen or not and it also prevents you from sending the wrong file (theoretically ) Anybody else got a simpler system?

Thanx guys - lost my nerve after SS's laughs - shame on you Nah - my largest squad had to cover some open ground covered by MG's - so I decided against it - pity, would like to try it, but the game is to close for taking chances.

Thanx SS / Steve - sounds like the odds are ****, but WTH (or maybe I'm just BSing hoping that Gary's going to read this )