Keith

If you want to model scenarios featuring Tiger I tanks in Normandy, I have two words for you: Epsom Goodwind Sherman tank = Ronson lighter. Get Micheal Reynolds book "Steel Inferno". The Brits lost HUNDREDS of tanks in these operations.

I have noticed that in scenarios featuring hedgerows that it is not possible to dig in on bocage tiles. This makes it necessary to place units in front of the bocage to cover the field. Historically troops dug in/blasted foxholes under/in bocage. Is it possible this can be modeled in a future patch?

If you want to read the definitive account of a German Landser in WWII, I highly recommend reading "The Forgoten Soldier" buy Guy Sajer. This book is an autobiography of an Alsatian that volunteered for the German Army and served with the Grossdeutchland Division on the Eastern Front. It is pretty harrowing story and difficult to put down. It contains a particularly riveting account of an infantry man's view of the failed Kursk offensive. Can you say screwed, glued, and tatooed?

ThomasJ, after your reading your post on the closed message thread, I must say as a Jew and as an American, that I find your comments to be extremely offensive. Your statement that German Jews somehow brought the holocaust upon themselves by betraying Germany in WWI is utter balony, and your "sources" are purely revisionist Nazi propaganda. Furthermore, you references to "smug Jewish bankers" is beneath contempt, and is an excellent example of racist sterotyping. In your "apology" in this thread you wrap yourself in the American flag, trying to portray yourself as a patriot. But I for one am ashamed that someone like yourself is in the American military. Oh, and by the way, my grandparents fought honorably in WWII with the English army and my father served honorably as a colonel in the Air Force in Vietnam. Have you even ever interacted with a Jewish person? For those on this message forum who seek further enlightment on how ordinary German people participated in the Final Solution, I recommend reading the book "Ordinary Men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland". This book shows that ordinary Germans, not self-selected SS troops, became killers. Get it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060995068/o/qid=961774082/sr=2-1/002-2670277-3933614 With regard to my personal feelings torwards Germans and Germany, I will quote a saying from the French resistance monument in Paris: "Forgive but never Forget". I tend to be generous, and I try to judge people as individuals. I have traveled to Germany and found Germans to be very polite and I found the country very attractive. On the other hand, I did not advertise the fact that I am Jewish. Still, it disturbs me that people like Joseph Hieder (Sp?) of Austria can come into power and quite cleary shows how many Germans and Austrains refuse to acknowledge their responsiblity in the War. Also these countries behavior torwards imigrants (Turks and Slavs) is troubling.

All I am going to add to this rather interesting discussion is that the U.S. mechanized the entire Russian army from 1943-1945. We shipped a TREMENDOUS amount of trucks and jeeps to Russia, and in fact, the word "Studebaker" is synonymous with the word truck in Russia today. The soviet infantry was almost entirely foot bound/calvary bound prior to 43. In 43 you will notice that many of the calvary corps were replaced by mechanized corps. The US indirectly contributed in a very real way to the far-reaching Soviet offensives in 1943. As far as tanks are concerned, the US and UK contributed around 11% to the Soviet tank inventory. While small, it is still significant. In fact, the Sherman tank made up a significant portion of Russian forces in operation Bagration in 1944 - even equipping "Guards" units.

I am afraid I will have to agree with Germanboy here. Based on my readings, Ersatz battalions served as a training and replacement unit for German divisions. Obviously the Germans only committed such units in desperate situations. I would model such a unit as being "Green" with a sprinkling of high quality platoon leaders representing veteran NCOs returning to the front after being wounded/on leave etc. I have read about the 352nd Ersatz in the US Army Center of Military History "Greenbook" on Normandy. This text clearly implies the battalion was inferior. As far as the American unit is concerned, I would rate them as a being "Green" also unless the unit saw service prior to Normandy. As far as the entire 352nd is concerned, I would rate them as being "Regular" rather than "Veteran" because the bulk of the division was comprised of 17 year olds and old men with no previous battle experience; however, there were enough EF veterans to warrant the division not being "Green". I think people tend to overrate the qualties of German troops in general. Most of these divisions were burnt-out veteran units with a huge influx of replacements or completely Green. On the other hand, most of the US units were Green themselves.

I am currently reading a book about the Cobra breakout in Normandy, which states that in July the Allies were fully expecting the Germans to use poison gas. In fact, the number of false gas attack alarms grew to such a ridiculous level that a special order was issued that made it a court marshal offense. Also, you may notice American OOBs references to Chemical Mortar Battalions. These battalions fired convential WP rounds, but they were also intended to be used for gas if necessary. Also note each G.I carried into battle during D-Day a gas mask.

The must-have book for the operation is titled "It Never Snows in September" available through amazon.com at the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885119313/o/qid=960567681/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/002-2670277-3933614 This book is the most thoroughly researched book on the topic that I have read and covers in detail the German perspective on the battle. The book also has some excellent color maps. Another good source is the Cornelius Ryan's book "A Bridge Too Far". Also the U.S. Army Center of Military History book "The Siegfried Line Campaign", which you can order through the government printing office (GPO.gov). In the CMH publication you get outstanding topigraphical maps and ariel photos of the terrain.

I have read that the Americans developed specific techniques to deal with the hedgerows in Normandy. Specifically it involved : 1) Having an engineer squad blast a hole through a hedgerow sufficient for a tank to move through 2) The tank moves through the edge of the hole and supporting MG teams move up to provide suppressing fire. 3) The infantry pass through the hole and attacks along the edges of the hedgrow. 4) Repeat My question is, will engineer squads be able to blast holes through the hedgerows? I think such capablility would enhance modeling hedgerow fighting and allow for realistic tactics.

Yes I read about this in an US Army book titled "The Last Offensive". That source referred to the German AFVs as being part of a SP Gun Battalion. I suspect these vehicles were really Stugs or perhaps JPzIVs or JPzVs. I really doubt they were Ferdinands at this late in the war (Spring 45'). It could be an interesting Operation I suppose, but as you said their objective was not to hold ground, but rather make a lightning raid behind enemy lines, free the POWs, and make it back. Might be difficult to model this. It really was a half-baked idea that cost the lives of many American lives to rescue really one man -Patton's son-in-law. Kind of "Saving Private Ryan" scenario. Of course the whole column was wiped out and captured!

I strongly recommend people reading Michael Reynold's series of books (Men of Steel, Devil's Adjunct, Steel Inferno) on the 1st SS Corps. His books are very ballanced and provide sufficient detail for CM scenarios. While Reynolds admires the fighting qualties and thoroughly researches his books, he doesn't cut the Waffen SS any breaks with regard to war crimes. I find many of the SS books are nothing but propaganda of Nazis trumpeting their victories and glossing over their defeats. With regard to the fighting qualties of the SS divisions that fought in Normandy, here is my assement. 1)Das Reich (2nd SS). This unit suffered 60-70% casualties on the Eastern Front before being rebuilt in Normandy roughly two months before the invasion. Given the amount of replacements absorbed (many of which were not volunteers and came from the Luftwaffe) with little opportunity for training, I would probably model this unit as a mixture "Veteran" and "Regular" troops with high quality platoon leaders. This is only because of the excellent core of NCOs and officers. 2)17th SS . This unit fought against the Americans around St. Lo. and Carenten. Von der Heydte, the veteran commander of the 6th Parachute Regiment, rated the quality of the officers as being very poor. Normandy was this units first action and their execution of the counter attack against Carenten was a disaster. Also poorly equipped, with many troops using bycicles. In terms of CM, probably "Green". 3)12th SS "HJ". High quality unit comprised of 18 year olds with no battle experience pior to Normandy. Cadre of experienced NCOs and officers from 1st SS. Therefore probably rate as "Regular" with fanaticism and excellent platoon leaders. 4)1st SS. Excellent unit also being rebuilt prior to Normandy. I would rate this unit the same as 2nd SS. Incidentally, many of the "elite" German para units performed quite poorly in their initial battles because they were new units comprised of mostly Luftwaffe ground personnel with incompetent officers.

According to the Handbook On German military forces the PRACTICAL firing rate of a HEAVY MG42 is 500 rpm, vs 250 rpm as a light machine gun. Thus the distinction. Doing the math, for 15 minutes of sustained firing you would need roughly 7500 rounds. That is some heavy metal.

I came across a web site which has an account of the experiences of a 101st Airborne trooper who was captured by the Germans and forced to endure some pretty rough stuff. Stories like these really make you appreciate how inhumane war really is. It is about eight pages long. http://www.tankbooks.com/stories/ninelives/ninelives1.htm

In the scenario VoT I was playing the Germans and noticed that the 75mm AT gun tends to vacillate between multiple targets of opportunity. For instance, at one point four shermans were attacking the pillbox simulateneously. The AT gun would lock on a target,when suddenly another sherman would come into LOS. The AT gun would then try to acquire the new target and so on. The end result is that all of the Shermans were getting pot shots and popping smoke before the AT gun could respond because it was constantly switching targets. I suggest target acquisitions become more "sticky".

I stand corrected from an earlier post and in fact these weapons were used frequently against infantry. However, I do think they should have limited effectiveness against STONE buildings as pointed out by the reference below from a U.S. Army publication: "Then he kicked holes in the embankment until he could stand on it, got in behind a tree and opened fire with the bazooka. He fired seven rounds and all of them exploded through the barracks roof; as he saw it, there was no use firing at the walls because they were much too thick." As I recall from the original Squad Leader board game, bazookas and faust were ineffective against infantry in stone buildings.

I posted this question before and I was told by a beta-tester that it was decide not to put flares in this release. In his words he said he didn't think flares were used that often. From what I have read, I would have to strongly disagree. I think it was probably a decision based on the amount of extra coding required. Think about the extra complexity based on the graphical illumination of terrain & units as well as the code required to model the flares. In any case, I really think it should be put in a future patch. In the battle around Arnhem during Market Garden, there are several incidents I read of where the Germans used flares: "This time a feint atack was mounted on the right, which included Lippert driving widly on to the drop-zone with his jeep, firing green verey flares.." Another incident "Muffled dumpfs signalling the barking of mortars, and the signatures of tank guns. These had to be ours? Flares rose steadily to our left, something like 400 to 500 m away, where there was open ground to the Rhine.." I know the Marines in the Pacific typically used flares to illuminate their positions all through the night in order to keep Japanese inflatraters at bay.

The indirect artillery simulation in CM is very sophisticated. I was wondering if the same attention to detail applies to modelling air support missions? In real life the officer in question, typically a pilot, had a radio tuned to specific frequencies. Not just any schmo could call in air support. A second point I would like to make is with regard to flares for night scenarios. I know it will not be in the initial release, but I would really like to see it in a future patch. Star shells were frequently used by defenders, and there are numerous cases where I have read this, in all theatres of combat. In one case I remember reading that a Marine fire base periodically shot flares during the entire night. I was also wondering in a future patch will it be possible to have white camouflage schemes?

I agree that the American equipment was superior from a logistical point of view, in the sense that many of the parts were interchangeable, and their were a finite number of models. But most importantly, America in general during this time period was much more industrialized and the automobile was ubiquitous as compared to pre-war Germany. In other words, we had more technical know how and skilled mechanics and people familar with driving. In addition, the Germans were using slave labor to build their weapons, and of course there was sabatoge. Would you believe the Germans never required women to work to take mens places in the factories. There were no "Rosy The Riveters".

All Ambrose does is interview ALLIED veterans, whose memory is fallable at this date, and prints their view as solid fact. He then recycles stuff from other classic WWII books and, voila, he pumps out a new book. Half the time he even gets the recycled stuff wrong. I opened up two of his books on random pages and found two factual erros. He referred to the Panzer Lehr as an SS division (!) and in another case stated the Germans had a 57mm AT gun.

While the Panther in VOT was engaging my armour in the valley, I had an infantry platoon sneak up the hill through the woods and knock out the Panther with a RIFLE GRENADE. When the crew bailed out an adjacent flamthrower unit light them up.

I am glad everybody enjoyed my original post on the battle of the Causeway. I think it would make for a super CM scenario What the report really illustrates how men behave under combat and how good leaders can positively influence the course of battle. I think CM models this very well with the bonuses for reaction times and morale. In the actual battle you notice how the battalion and rear company officers sheep hearded reluctant men and quickly sent them to the proper directions. On the CMH website you can read great published works, but I also encourage you to purchase material from their catalog (cheap). The maps are top notch, complete with arieal photos and excellent detail on the battles.

I noticed that sometimes the AI will have the German panzerfaust and panzerschreck teams fire at infantry, and in fact inflict considerable damage. I think this highly unrealstic given that these weapons fired shaped charged projectiles. These projectiles essentially burned through armor. How can this be effective against soft targets? Yes to tanks and pillboxes, no to soft targets. A good website on these weapons is http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/8172/panzerfaust.htm.

Check out the website: http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/8172/panzerfaust.htm for a definitive discussion on infantry anti-tank weapons.

Big Time Software, is there a list posted for the final infantry/gun types in the game. I noticed the list for the final vehicle types...

I believe the Germans converted a battalion of French Hotchkiss and FCM36 tanks to SP guns mounting 75mm Pak40 and 105mm leFH18.