@Ithikial_AU You got 2 months to Chicago, 10 maps to make, a dozen history books to read, a full tank of gas and a half a pack of cigarettes...HIT IT!!!
Some of the things you see if you look close enough are Medal of Honor, Iron Cross. Victoria Cross and Hero of Soviet Union actions. It's pretty amazing sometimes and can be pretty discouraging at times depending on which side of that action you're on.
Awesome story. This is what I love about Combat Mission as well. One of the most epic moments was during the final mission of the NTC campaign in Cold War.
My company combat team was situated behind a slight rise with dense, hilly terrain to the left and open ground on the right. I needed to hold off the enemy for a period of time then extract to my left. An entire BMP battalion split raced across both fronts as my tanks and TOW launchers valiantly stemmed the tide. As I got the green light to retreat the BMP's on my right hooked around my defenses and on my left three BMP's made it past my defenses and cut off my retreat. It was at that moment I heard the sound of an enemy helicopter (my vulcan was out of ammo). My tanks leap frogged, one defending the other as they retreated while my infantry were strafed running to the safety of the M113's. Desperation began to set in as my vehicles piled up behind the small hill the BMP's/infantry were defending.
I gathered a scratch team of infantry from various squads and a tank to take the hill. There was no time for caution, a mortar carrier had just been taken out and the BMP's on the right were just around the corner. My boys charged over the hill like maniacs. The Russians seemed to be taken by surprise but they quickly returned fire and casualties were heavy on both sides. It looked to be a futile effort as the BMP's guns opened up but at that moment the lone M-60 crested the hill and engaged the BMP's. He took out two before the final one got a solid hit and knocked out the tank. It was all worth it as reinforcements arrived and the convoy made it's move to the extraction point all the while harried by the helicopter.
I don't think you get stories like this from any other game.
Some of the things you see if you look close enough are Medal of Honor, Iron Cross. Victoria Cross and Hero of Soviet Union actions. It's pretty amazing sometimes and can be pretty discouraging at times depending on which side of that action you're on.
Some of the things you see if you look close enough are Medal of Honor, Iron Cross. Victoria Cross and Hero of Soviet Union actions. It's pretty amazing sometimes and can be pretty discouraging at times depending on which side of that action you're on.
Thanks for the kudos for the Carius CMRT scenario. That is based on the facts and focussed on the main event and used both German and Russian sources to create the narrative (Note: carius in his account creates a totally fictional and non-corroborated meeting engagement after the encounter at Malinava). The mysterious heavy tank brigade (‘Josef Stalin’) as described by Carius and engaged by the Tigers never existed. In fact the company commanded by Carius was in action against the 41st Tank brigade (T-34 and M3 medium tanks) and the 48th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, both from the 5th Tank Corps. The first lost some 10 T-34 destroyed at Malinovo/Malinava on 22.07, the latter - 5 IS-2 (sources http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml).
So 'fraid video gets a huge thumbs down from. A mish-mash of incorrect factoids. Even simple corborotion with Carius' own account would get this half way correct. Such poorly researched slick video productions really boil my piss though - its al clicks and likes and nothing of any substance. The men involved all deserve better, especially the Soviet tankers who were killed in this engagement. For the full Soviet KIA names list scroll down. A key factor in the success of Carius’ unit attack can be attributed to fact that these tank crews of the Soviet 3/41st Tank Brigade were mainly inexperienced reinforcements. The battalion has come up to brigade on the evening of the 21st June 1944. It appears the tank drivers had experience of only 3 hours driving their tanks, whilst many of the officers were inexperienced and not ready for a fast and dynamic close range armoured fight. Anyways the full account and sources is below. The vdieo - meh...
Historical Background
On 22 July 1944, 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius with his company of eight Tigers from sPzAbt (Heavy Tank Battalion)502 advanced towards the village of Malinava.
They had been tasked with halting the spearhead of the Soviet 5th Tank Corps, the tip of 4th Shock Army’s spear, which had cleanly broken through Army Group North’s defences.
The Soviet 5th Tank Corps during their drive towards Dunaburg/Daugavpils were intercepted by a German assault gun battery (on probability most likely elements from Assault Gun Brigade 912 – although it’s difficult to pin this down with any certainty) around 1200Hrs.
After a short sharp firefight the Soviet armour brushed aside an attack by the assault guns destroying 7 of the assault guns in the process.
The Soviet tanks went on to cut the main highway, from Daugavpils to Rossiten in Latvia, at Malinava. Their next objective was the city of Daugavpils to the south.
As panic stricken German troops fled the area, 2nd Company from the sPzAbt 502 under the command of 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius were tasked with intercepting this Soviet armoured spearhead. After refuelling and re-arming they headed out. On their approach to Malinava they heard the sounds of an armoured battle – the firefight between the Soviet armour and the hapless Stug unit. The Tiger unit stopped behind a slight rise to investigate. 1st Lieutenant Carius, along with Sergeant Albert Kerscher (one of the most decorated commanders of sPzAbt 502) took a Kubelwagen and went on ahead to identify the source of the gunfire.
Somewhere south of Malinava they bumped into a fleeing army Sergeant who warned them of the presence of Soviet tanks up ahead in the village. He was invited into their kubelwagon and the little group carried on. Just before the village, on a reverse slope they parked and proceeded on foot till about a kilometre from the village. Here Carius observed the Soviets moving into position in Malinava and noticed that several T34s were standing sentry on the southern approach into the village. As Carius watched the Soviet tanks begin to ‘circle the wagons’ a motorcycle approached the south. In it was the adjutant from the ill-fated German assault gun battalion. He confirmed that the firefight Carius had heard was the contact between the assault gun unit and the Soviet tanks now taking up position in Malinava.
Carius recognized that the Russian tanks in the village were only advance troops waiting for the main force to arrive. He decided to recapture the village with a daring 'coup de main' before reinforcements arrived. He decided to attack the village using only two tanks.
His reasoning for this approach (as he describes in his book “Tigers in the Mud”) was because the situation was so unclear and, in his judgement, would be too risky for the unit to attack on line. Therefore to avoid risking his other vehicles and crews - six Tigers (under the command of 1st Lieutenant Nienstedt who was new to the unit) remained in reserve while Carius and Kerscher's Tigers moved towards the village of Malinava. Speed was the essence of Carius' strategy, as was his desire to avoid unnecessary casualties.
Entering the village, two T-34/85 tanks were observed rotating their turrets. At that moment, Kerscher's Tiger No.213, trailing Carius, opened fire and knocked them out. Both Carius and Kerscher’s Tigers penetrated into the village where they engaged the other Soviet tanks at close range. Carius recalled that the entire battle lasted no more than 20 minutes - Carius and Kerscher's Tigers knocked out 17 Russian tanks (as claimed by Carius in his account in ‘Tigers in the Mud’) during this brief but violent action. His quick and accurate recognition of the situation and the excellent tactics used were the main factors in the decisive outcome.
Controversy and Discussion
These are the key facts. However this action (and the following one Carius describes in his book – Tigers in the Mud’) have gathered some critical views – did this really happen? This link provides some background detail regarding the discussion including some very interesting Russian research by S.Morozov about the action simulated in this scenario and the second event described by Carius in his book:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=163515
The discussion and links provided in this forum were crucial for working out what happened where – especially the detail provided by S.Morozov.
There are a few points regarding Carius’ account (bearing in mind it was written from memory a long time after the actual events) that the evidence available now to researchers doesn’t corroborate. They are:
The mysterious heavy tank brigade (‘Josef Stalin’) as described by Carius and engaged by the Tigers never existed. In fact the company commanded by Carius was in action against the 41st Tank brigade (T-34 and M3 medium tanks) and the 48th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, both from the 5th Tank Corps. The first lost some 10 T-34 destroyed at Malinovo/Malinava on 22.07, the latter - 5 IS-2 (sources http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml).
The Soviet brigade commander killed by Carius is a pure fantasy. The most high-ranking Soviet tank officer killed at Malinava on this day was Captain Orlovskiy, CO of the 1st battalion, 41st Tank Brigade (Same source as above).
The subsequent ambush east of Malinava, in which Carius allegedly destroyed 28 Soviet tanks seems to be a fantasy as well. There are no recorded Soviet tank losses for that day that corroborate the story (or subsequently in the area). However the evidence tallies for the action at Malinava and for it happening reasonably close to Carius’ account of events.
In Carius’ account there is no mention of the German assault guns being involved in supporting his attack. However there is evidence that indicates that the surviving assault guns from the unit previously engaged by the Soviet tanks, joined in attacking by fire from the north west when the Carius attack went in. It’s also likely they KO’d some of the Soviet tanks claimed by Carius in his book. The evidence of this comes from the German AAR and ironically a German newspaper article about this very action (It can be found as document 18 in "Tigers in the Mud"). Dated 28 July '44, "Review of the War Correspondent Reports - The Bronze Shield". It was written by Herbert Steinert, and it provides some interesting snippets of information. It writes that most Russian tanks were destroyed outside the village (which corroborates well with Morozov's account above and his locations of KO’d Soviet armour in and around Malinava), and here is the interesting part - "Leutnant Carius can chalk up 10 kills for himself, the second "Tiger" had four. Three of the fleeing bolshevist tanks were destroyed by assault guns which had followed the penetration of the tanks."
A key factor in the success of Carius’ unit attack can be attributed to fact that the tank crews of the Soviet 3/41st Tank Brigade were mainly inexperienced reinforcements. The battalion has come up to brigade on the evening of the 21st June 1944. It appears the tank drivers had experience of only 3 hours driving their tanks, whilst many of the officers were inexperienced and not ready for a fast and dynamic close range armoured fight.
It can also be speculated that after their victory over the German assault guns that they’d relaxed, or had become overconfident or had perhaps most likely (either because they simply forgot or due to their inexperience) that a vital part of mechanised combat is attentive and alert observation of all arcs that a possible enemy could approach from. Whatever the reasons the young inexperienced Soviet tank crews paid a heavy price – 20 officers and other ranks were killed in the fight. Many were buried by the wrecks of their destroyed tanks on the battlefield. Note: A full list of the Soviet tankers killed at Malinava can be found at
http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/karius1.shtml
These discrepancies aside the bold and decisive attack made by Carius and Kerscher was successful and inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing Soviet armour. When playing this scenario I hope you’ll appreciate how much luck played a part in the success of this attack and in both Carius and Kerscher’s survival. It’s an indication of the odds they gave at surviving this fight that after the fighting was over they’d jumped down of their tanks and hugged each other – relief and thanks?
As Napoleon once said “I know he's a good general, but is he lucky?” On a tactical scale it was a superb display of AFV technology, skill, training and luck by the German Tiger commanders and their crews – notably Carius and Kerscher. Several days later – on the 24th July 1944 Nienstedt went on to display his own prowess in armoured combat commanding Tiger tanks when outside Dunaburg his command of six Tigers knocked 17 out of 20 attacking Soviet tanks, including 2 assault guns. His Tiger alone accounted for 10 enemy tanks.
Soviet Casualty List for Malinava
This is the casualty list for the Soviet armoured units engaged at Malinava. Unfortunately the information concerning the detail of the Soviet units is very scarce. However these young men died fighting against Nazi Germany so it’s only fitting their sacrifice is remembered.
Source: http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/karius1.shtml
Casualty list for 41 Armoured Brigade July 22 1944
KIA
Officers
Captain I.Moroz;
Captain K.Orlovsky;
Lieutenant P.Prokopev;
Lieutenant N.Ravvinsky;
ml. Lieutenant A. Knorpel;
ml. Lieutenant S. Polozov;
ml. Lieutenant F. Bozhenov. He died in hospital from wounds
ml. Lieutenant A.Egorov.
Sergeants.
St.serzhant M. Cherepanov;
Sergeant M. Averyanov;
Sergeant A. Maslov;
Sergeant S. Melnikov;
Sergeant Efimov;
Sergeant E. Krylov;
Sergeant S.Nemirov,
Loskutnikov ;
mL. Sergeant A. Vinyukov;
ml. Sergeant F. Sokolov .
Casualty list for the 48 Guards Tank Regiment July 22 1944
KIA
Officers
Guard Lieutenant G. Romazanov.
Sergeants
St.serzhant A.Mikhailov
Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502
During the 502nd battalions’ deployment (22-26th July 1944) on the north side of the Duna River they destroyed 73 Soviet tanks and 24 anti-tank guns for the loss of only four Tigers.
The mobile operations the unit undertook severely stressed the Tigers mechanical reliability resulting in a 44.5% operational readiness rate for it’s Tigers. Despite this the penetrative qualities of the Tiger’s 88 allowed small numbers of Tigers to destroy large numbers of Soviet tanks, thereby helping delay the Soviet capture of Dunaburg.
Notable ‘aces’ that served with 502 Johannes Bolter (usually credited with 139 destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Otto Carius (usually credited with 150+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Alfredo Carpaneto (usually credited with 50+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Albert Kerscher (usually credited with 100+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Heinz Kramer (usually credited with 50+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Johann Muller (usually credited with 50 destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Designers and Research:
Charlie Meconis and ‘George MC’ McEwan.
References and Sources
“Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius”
Personal account of his combat career – it includes a detailed personal account of this action plus an appendix that has original German sources.
“Otto Carius Meine Dienstzeit”
Photos and stories chronicle Otto Carius entrance into the Wehrmacht as a volunteer, his life as a soldier, and his victories as a Panzer commander for three and a half years on the Eastern Front. Detailed photos and illustrations of his numerous medals, decorations and documents as well as an interview with Otto Carius about his time in the military.
“Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II”
Useful overview of Tigers in action operationally and tactically. Has a detailed overview of the ‘big picture’ in which Carius’ 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion were deployed post Operation Bagration.
Overview of 502nd’s Combat history covering vehicle losses in combat
http://www.alanhamby.com/unithist.shtml#502
Interesting discussion, with numerous views and conjecture plus some new evidence regarding the actions described by Carius in ‘The Ambush’ chapter of his book ‘Tigers in the Mud’:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=163515
Detailed stats and accounts from the Soviet side of the hill. However it’s in Russian and google translate struggles with an easily understandable translation plus brevity is not one of it’s merits
http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml
My scenario is ready to be play tested by anyone who is interested. Due to the amount of tanks to keep track of it's basically tank vs tank with the exception of some Soviet dismounted infantry in the village. I have the battle set for an hour an ten minutes but has run shorter than that. Maybe because I've played it umpteen times checking things out...😀
You don't need the log4 mod as that area isn't in this battle but may be in future scenarios and is nice to look at when looking over the map.
This is my first scenario so it's not too complicated but is a good slug fest with Tigers, King Tigers and T-34/85's. Germans vs Soviet AI.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jueajatbm41x8w6/Tank Battle of Lisow.btt?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pztxi9tpgcovwrn/log4.brz?dl=0
Introduction of the D-10 Gun on the SU100. Could penetrate any German late war tank. Prompted the development of the L7 NATO 105mm tank gun. The Soviets introduced their SU100 in October 1944.
I just tried it with a SU-85 and a 76 mm anti tank gun hidden in a barn. The SU-85 remains hidden until it shoots then is half way out. The anti tank gun remains hidden even when shooting and doesn't jump out.
I put a Stug and a Panther on a test map with the anti tank gun in a barn. the anti tank gun shot and hit the Stug twice and you couldn't see it. I put the Panther on Hunt command after the anti tank gun shot at the Stug and with the hatch open it didn't see the anti tank gun until it got to about 100 meters.
That's going to make some pretty interesting scenarios...😀
Yes, it is possible - you can position functioning guns, trenches, foxholes, mines, vehicles, wire, bunkers, etc., 'inside buildings. But this can only be done by the creator of the scenario at the time of its creation and only on the ground floor.
How?
1. Before placing any other features on the map (which might confuse the next steps) place a contrasting terrain tile (e.g. sand in a field of grass) at the location where you later want to place the building.
2. Select and deploy the unit or item that you wish to place inside the building on top of the 'sand' terrain tile. Give it the desired facing now.
3. Place the building on top of it and 'voila!', mission accomplished.
@kohlenklau
I will prepare a short tutorial on making mods a'la Suchy and post the special bitmaps I use. But only in a few days, because now I have a lot of work duties.
To focus this a bit the common sense position would be that hull down tanks are much harder to hit. AKA "its better for incoming rounds to hit dirt than your face". But whats panning out in the above test is that incoming rounds aren't hitting dirt that much more often. The real benefit in CM is that there just won't be incoming rounds at all. The benefit isn't that you are significantly harder to hit but that you are significantly harder to spot in the first place.
So if your tank has a weak chin then engaging in an honest to god shoot out (where the enemy has spotted you and is firing back) isn't going to be great for it. In fact your are much more likely to take damage. So you either want to avoid the shoot out (new battle position and so on before they spot you) or take the shoot out from a hull up position.
Every time I see destroyed and burning vehicles it seems a bit silly that the smoke from them always go straight up while other kinds of smoke and dust go sideways.
Is this something BFC has designed to make it easier to spot the enemy's destroyed vehicles so the player can think "Yes! I killed that bloody tank. I'm so good I deserve a lollypop" or is there another reason to this? Strong wind doesn't make much of a difference and the smoke still goes mostly straight up to do a slight bend higher up.
The picture is from DoubleD's youtube video of an H2H battle in Black Sea.
English?? we don't speak no english. We speak american. And it comes in lots of nice flavors. I for one do not appreciate how those folks over on that little island have distorted my native language with all their funny talk. I gotta use subtitles just to see what they are saying on the telly.
Aftermath: The AT gun managed to fire 7 HE shells into the rear of the T-26. During this time, the turret was rotating and trying to get a bead on the snipers hiding in the crater. They were not pleased. I had the nearby scout team approach from the rear, as they had more grenades, but the 7th HE shell convinded the Soviet commander to bail out, and the scouts dealt with him summarily. The T-26 tanks do not go down easily to the 3,7 cm guns. It takes many hits, especially if the guns have run out of AT shells.
Phil, I see that Münchbach, formerly the second to the breach team led by Kuntz, has now been promoted to having his own breach team. Nice. I take it this was a "reward" for his stellar performance in V2?
Although I have a few Steam games, I hate being Steam "dependent". I have very strong feelings about wanting any of my games to be totally free standing on my own computer and not dependent on an outside agency to be able to play them on an on-going basis.
Seeing WW II AFVs in their period paint, especially camouflage, is failrly rare, but here's an exception. The German name for this critter is Armored MG Carrier--UE. the (f) is presumably to denote fremde, or foreign.
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