John Kettler

And here we have a Cold War BAOR vet describing how the Soviet MRR would attack, drawing on a BAOR training film, some of which is terrifying. For example, a 100 gun Soviet 40 minute artillery prep would be 12,000 rounds, based on a rate of 2 rpm per gun. Let me provide a frame of reference. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese bombardment of An Loc was a staggering to us 1200 rounds per day. We're talking 10 times that, delivered in only 40 minutes. Some of the Soviet artillery footage in the impact zone will make you wonder how anything could've survived. The timing and sequence of force buildup as the MRR is fascinating, and this video is set later in time, so that instead of T-62s, the Soviets have the T-64, though mercifully not the AT-8 armed T-64B. People with epilepsy and other flicker triggered conditions should be aware that some of the Soviet imagery is full of flickering. The comments verge on incredible, for most of them are either by vets or children of vets who would've been in the thick of things. Regards, John Kettler

Here is the natural building block for the US player in CMCW, for this is the training film on the combined arms team. It teaches core tactical principles that, if violated, will pretty much ensure defeat. Though the film looks horrible initially, the actual res is tolerable. Something which might bear looking into is the racial mix in the game vs reality. Frankly, though, am having a tough time finding close range imagery of US infantry in game so I can tell whether there even is an issue. Nor is this situation helped by having rocky vision today. Regards, John Kettler

AFV overheating has long been an issue, and agonizing compromises have had to be made. Nor was it always the engine. A little looking will reveal, for example, DAK Panzer crews fighting with the turret doors open! I have an account from Kursk in which the T-34 driver passed out in the buttoned tank from heat and inhaling cordite fumes. They violated combat regs (a big deal) to revive him and get back into the fight. Regards, John Kettler

Never saw this 1977 gem in my entire career as a Soviet Threat Analyst, a career which began in 1978. Not only does this show the ins and outs of the T-62 and how it operates with BMP-1s and AT-3 armed BRDMs, but it shows US capabilities, too, including the hulldown disparity, telltale reload indicator, low T-62 ROF and more. On the US end, everything from tanks to tacair and scatterable mines (by automatic minelayer or helicopter dispenser) are all there to see. Nor is the terrain the sere NTC, but someplace very European looking. Not only is there lots of great footage, but some remarkable model work, too. Of particular intetest to players will be the comments on open fire ranges, engagememt philoposophies, ammo selection and other game useful groggery. Offhand, I can't think of a better intro to the real world which CMCW seeks to depict. Regards, John Kettler

All I'd ever seen before were stunning clips and VO in Czech. Thanks to English subtitles and the full film, here's your chance to follow a Czech Tank Brigade in action. There is a wealth of German hardware in this film, some of which will leave you stunned. The Czech's gear is that of the Red Army from Operation Bagration on, and here's an opportunity to see for real what we've talked about for years. Regards, John Kettler

Combatintman, Didn't recall much other than that he worked like crazy on the project and had already ead everything I dug up. Had the project succeeded, I think the vinogel recovery would've been a fun minigame. thanks for letting me know. Regards, John Kettler

The pic of the Ameba cammies is modern day color of the collector's own collection, not colorized B/W from the GPW. This is made clear in the two page thread for which I provided the link. Here is the response I got over on CoC. Alex Wood That rings so many alarm bells - 'attic find' and 'barn find' are all warning triggers to a reenactor/collector yet, curiously, none of them are dusty or show any other storage wear. In fact the colours are still really vibrant while the one stamp sho… See More 2 Like · Reply · 13h · Edited Alex Wood And that blue has never turned up anywhere else. 1 Like · Reply · 13h Active John Kettler Author +1 Alex Wood The owner did say it was rare, the only one he'd seen. The thread is two pages long, and in a follow up question, I believe he said it was for night work. For sure, black would loom under all but the darkest conditions. Researching Ameba pa… See More ABOUTWW2MILITARIA.COM Soviet Russian ww2 made AMOEBA camouflage suit for summer.- Overcoats & Suites Soviet Russian ww2 made AMOEBA camouflage suit for summer.- Overcoats & Suites Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 1h · Edited Active John Kettler Author +1 Here's one that's bright green. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/... EXTERNAL-CONTENT.DUCKDUCKGO.COM external-content.duckduckgo.com external-content.duckduckgo.com Alex Wood And it's highly unlikely that useful material would have been ignored for 60 or more years. Regards, John Kettler

Ha! Good one! Rolled up that way, they look more like sleeping bags than battle dress. Regards, John Kettler

Regards, John Kettler

The history of vinogel in the legion is in the front of the article on page 14 in this French (English language) magazine. It's nothing new, having first joined the Legion in 1850! Recaps the vinogel raid and even has a sketch map. https://issuu.com/thedsm/docs/dsm-may15-online Regards, John Kettler

Bet this mission had plenty of volunteers, Mini-scenario possibility, LongLeftFlank? For those who never heard of vinogel (I sure hadn't until someone mentioned it on the CoC FB page), here's the story. "As well as beer and choum, French troops were still issued with a wine ration, even in the field. When out on operations carrying around bottles of wine in large quantities was impractical so in their combat ration kits soldiers were issued with a dehydrated wine concentrate called ‘Vinogel’, sometimes nicknamed ‘Tiger blood’. The idea was to mix the vinogel with two parts water to one part wine (many preferred one to one of course) but there were some who simply ate it in its dehydrated state. In 1947 the French war minister, Paul Coste-Floret, had visited Indochina and became somewhat distressed at the idea of vinogel. ‘You see’, he lectured the French commander in chief, General Raoul Salan: ‘It’s not something you drink, it’s something you eat. I’m going to send you some decent wine.’ ‘You might send a few battalions as well,’ Salan suggested. His own practical anxieties, juxtaposed against the often frivolous and muddled concerns of successive French politicians, would prove well founded.[3]" And now to perhaps the most unusual reason for a raid ever! "On 30 April, as the historian Bernard Fall[5]relates, the legionnaires of the 13eme demi-brigade were faced with the prospect of celebrating Camerone with just one miserable bottle of wine per platoon. Then word came through that two crates of vinogel were among the para-drop that had fallen into no man’s land opposite them that day. A recovery party was put together (everyone volunteered one veteran remembered) led by a Major Coutant. To ensure the safe retrieval of the crates, the legionnaires first had to head over to the enemy lines and destroy several bunkers, a task that was completed with plastic explosives and 10 enemy killed and many wounded for no loss of their own. The vinogel was recovered and day’s celebrations were saved. The French commander, General Christian de Castries, radioed his superiors in Hanoi that evening detailing the raid’s success – though omitting the actual purposes for which it had been staged." Regards, John Kettler

Was cross checking a colorized image with amoeba camouflage and found this when I did some digging. The examples shown are either from shortly before the GPW or during it. Some of the examples are extremely authentic, being equipped with Axis bullet holes and Russian bloodstains. As you can see, there's even more color variety than in feldgrau German uniforms. https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/uniforms-insignia-rkka-red-army-soviet-army/couple-different-amoeba-camos-3270/ Here's but one image. Regards, John Kettler

Ah, a model builder. Last built a proper kit (Tamiya SU-100--with motor) around 1972 and was an active member of the local IPMS chapter. These days, full-up models, especially with aftermarket etched brass, metal gun barrels and such are insanely expensive, much more so, I think, than my wargaming miniatures if we compare 1 tank 1/35 scale model against 1 28 mm/1/56 scale infantry platoon. For $40, I can buy 30 figures, but I've seen $90 tank kits, and am pretty sure that's not the upper limit. The more modest big name outfit tank models are $60, and even the old Monogram Panzer IV/H, made from the early 1970 molds, no less, runs $40. Thanks for confirming my weapon ID. Contrast ratio and res in the video were so low (my kingdom for a GoPro™) I thought I was seeing coolant hoses, but the pic I found shows conclusively I was wrong. Before I go, here's a modeling secret am sure no one here knows. If you vapor deposit aluminum on a 1/35 scale AFV model and use the right kind of laser to reflect off of it, you'll see the same glint points that a MMW seeker operating at 94 GHz will. This is how you can make templates to show smart weapons what they're lookin g at so they go after tanks and not trucks. Regards, John Kettler

ZPB II, After reading this, from the excellent Tankograd BTR-80 article, I 've decided that the projectile which best fits the observables is indeed the MDZ, which is rated as having essentially the same explosive hitting power as the 20 mm ShVAK aircraft cannon fitted to the T-60 light tank and a great many Soviet fighter planes. https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/btr-80.html The MDZ is a high explosive incendiary (HE-I) bullet designed primarily for anti-aircraft work, but it is also suitable for soft skinned vehicles vehicles such as trucks, jeeps, and cars. The bullet has a bimetallic jacket containing an explosive filler. A detonator cap is installed at the nose of the bullet. It is extremely lightweight and occupies much less space compared to a mechanical fuze. The filler of the MDZ bullet consists of ~5 grams of phlegmatized PETN. The phlegmatizer content is unknown, but the explosiveness of PETN (as determined by a Trauzl test) is 523 ml, while the A-IX-2 explosive-incendiary compound has an explosiveness of 530 ml, the same as pure hexogen. The explosiveness of the phlegmatized PETN charge is likely to be between A-IX-1 and A-IX-2. In terms of explosive payload, the MDZ bullet is similar to the 20x99mm OZ (HE-I) shell for the the ShVAK aircraft cannon, which contained 5.6 grams of A-IX-2. The MDZ bullet is specified to blast a hole with a diameter of 20-30cm into a 1mm duralumin sheet at a distance of 1,500 meters. This is superior to a 20mm OZ round for the ShVAK, which is only capable of creating a 150x160mm breach in a 0.9-1.5mm duralumin sheet simulating the skin of aircraft. Overall, the useful payload of the MDZ bullet is similar to the 20mm ShVAK OZ shell, despite the considerable difference in total projectile weight of 31 grams. The forged steel body of the OZ shell may be heavier and more effective at fragmenting compared to the jacket of the MDZ bullet, but at least in terms of weight, the difference is not as large as the total projectile weight suggests due to the fact that the OZ shell has a large mechanical fuze whereas the MDZ bullet does not. Regards, John Kettler

That's pretty amazing, but period of German civilians on the street while the Battle of Berlin rages about them far surpasses that. That said, this is next league in other ways, starting with being in color. If the detonations are that powerful at considerable range, can you imagine what it's like being under fire?! Am not at all convinced this is a ZSU-23/4 firing. Here's why. If you closely compare the muzzle assemblies in the video with this pic, to me they're identical, and this pic is crystal clear and large format color. Expandable, too. Regards, John Kettler

That's pretty amazing, but period of German civilians on the street while the Battle of Berlin rages about them far surpasses that. Regards, John Kettler

By deliberate fire I mean firing as few as four rounds at a time, watching where they hit, then repeating as needed. Don't know how that's done with such a high ROF multi-barrel weapon, but it would be hard to categorize this remarkable technique as burst fire, more like salvo! Regards, John Kettler

Here, we have a ZSU using a purpose built tank ramp and defiladed firing position. The radar proper has been removed, but the the metalwork remains. It's likely the radar's guts have been removed from the hull as well. As you can see here, though, that's no guarantee of survival. Believe Daily Motion is having technical issues, but earlier, I saw a ZSU-23/4 being used as a kind of field artillery against anti-Assad rebels. The ZSU is employing deliberate fire, and at such a range the shells are arriving on FA type trajectories. Terminal effects are considerable, even against dug-in infantry. Regards, John Kettler

While there's footage of this formidable weapon in Syria blazing away with wild abandon, here is a far more tactical and measured use, together with effective use of terrain, too. The video shows conclusively that there can't be enough dust, dirt and devastation for CMx2 battles in heavily fought over cities in desert regions. These AFVs look worn, dinged up, damaged and more, with some sporting slogans, too. The ZSU goes into action at ~3:10. The GUN DISH radar is still installed, but there's no guarantee the pricey guts remain inside the ZSU. Regards, John Kettler

Redwolf, Fair point on first item. Ref second, in theory, yes, but most AFV kills the days are caused by handheld unguided weapons and full-blown ATGMs. not to mention IEDs. As for the third, while it's true that many nations use special purpose APC/IFV versions, the US has ATGMs on both the M2 Bradley IFV and the M3 Bradley CFV. It's by no means unique in this, either. The Russians have lots of APCs and IFVs sporting ATGMs as well, whether readily visible atop the AFV or not, as in the cannon-launched ATGM on the BMP-3. Regards, John Kettler

Am inclined to agree, but my point was that it's bizarre to me to ballyhoo the major increase in cannon firepower while saying not word one about on-board ATGMs, especially given the capabilities of today's ATGMs, some of which are multi-role. ZPB II, Concur with your point. All those optoelectronic devices, sensors, etc,. provide tremendous capabilities, at the direct expense of creating immense opportunities to degrade combat effectiveness, if not inflict mission kill--without having to penetrate the fighting compartment to do so. Ref the Jaguar, would say that many of the devices do have, save on their primary axis of vision/fire, significant protection vs light frags and small arms, so there is that. And if terrain and other cover is used effectively, the targetable size of this beast will be greatly reduced, with a concomitant positive impact on the likelihood of losing one or more of the rooftop and/or turret face items. Its armament is so substantial, though, that the temptation to use it like a tank will be great. Obviously, THAT won't help survival! Regards, John Kettler

Weirdly, not one of these potential selectees has any mention of ATGMs as part of its armament. Regards, John Kettler

Astounding! Had NO idea a turtle could move that fast. Bil's tanks would have to be going at least twice as fast to be in remotely the same relative speed bracket. Regards, John Kettler

Badger73, Given what I've seen of typical LOS ranges for Western Europe (700-800 meters), am surprised that the battlesight settings were enormously longer (1200 and 1500 meters) by comparison. Wouldn't such settings generally guarantee an over on the all-important first shot? Regards, John Kettler

Can't recall the source of my quote and never saw yours before. Did you read it or create it? Great quote either way. Regards, John Kettler