John Kettler

Jeff, Your scanned rocket intel booklet is a great read. It would be much better with the complete pages present, though. Many are clipped at the bottom and apparently lost several lines of text per page. Regards, John Kettler

With all due deference to the formidable martial abilities of Kingfish, my forever war foe, I respectfully submit, Holien, that it is much easier to plan and conduct an attack when one knows ahead of time what one is facing and what to look out for. If I understand the matter correctly, you two refought a battle you'd previously fought, didn't you? If this is true, one then also has some idea of what the opponent's tactical predispositions might be as well. This is wholly different from swanning off into the blue, as I was forced to do when I fought the battle blind going in. Tom did some very unpleasant things to my left last turn, but I hope the price on his end there was at least proportionate. I hit him with an unexpected visitor, too. Meanwhile, I saw some two legged rabbits running away from my main VL area on the right and killed and was killed by some of his men to my right front. von Lucke and I have suddenly found ourselves in a horrific meeting engagement of such epic brutality and lethality that my mind can't quite encompass what's happening. He hurt me in several areas but paid heavily for the progress. He rushed some units in suddenly, and I'm dealing with those while under fire from their friends. Nothing from Peter today, nor has anything been heard from the two yet unfought ones. Regards, John Kettler

My last movie from Peter yielded a mixture of elation and sorrow. I stormed one of his positions, but I got butchered elsewhere on the field. Worse, vital momentum was lost. von Lucke and I clashed so violently and thoroughly that after five viewings I still don't have the who, whats and the whens sorted out. Casualties on both sides were severe. Calling the situation chaotic would be to impose order on it. There is none. Regards, John Kettler

AndrewTF, First of all, thanks for responding. I was working from the graphic as shown and lay no claim to knowing your ultimate plans. What I did was to provide you with feedback much as I did for Tanks a Lot and his amazing concrete bunker mod. Sadly, at this stage that's about all I can do, because my rig doesn't have the horsepower to run high res mods. Therefore, to the extent you find anything I say useful, just think of it as being for the benefit of the better equipped CM community. Death to pink pixels! Regards, John Kettler

CombatGeneral, If available (each is curently battling the other), both Kingfish and Holien are quite capable of making you wish you hadn't mouthed off so soon. Both are fierce on defense. I'm equally certain that CDIC could ruin your day, too, though I haven't directly encountered him on defense. I'm pretty nasty myself on defense, but am scrambling to cover multiple tourney commitments right now. Regards, John Kettler

In spite of my best efforts to blind and suppress, Peter continues to macerate my men, and more of his keep popping up in militarily awkward positions. My HQs are busy kicking and cajoling men who've been put through multiple meatgrinders. I have managed to get some support forward and am sweating out the arrival of requested fires. Let's say I need them! von Lucke has resurfaced, moved into %&(* and hurt me in several ways, but I continue to exact casualties and throw both spanners into his works and emery dust into his gearbox at every opportunity. Steel throated warblers continue their loving songfest to his men. I think he's feeling frustrated. Regards, John Kettler

AndrewTF, What you've done is most impressive, but it seems to me you've invented a new physics. If not, barring deliberate obscuration, how is it that the windshield is opaque except for the wiper path, but the front of the vehicle and the hood are almost clean? My little Festiva is medium blue and isn't driven around much, yet within days rapidly becomes more brown than blue on all horizontal surfaces from just a little dust. If we take a jeep in the field for any length of time, which is only washed by rain or stream fordings, it'll easily be ten times worse, without factoring in mud. Have you ever seen a vehicle that's gone cross country through mud? The grunginess is hard to convey. The tires and wheel hubs would be almost unrecognizable, the wheel wells would be deeply caked, as would the fenders, especially behind the wheels; the front bumper, the radiator and much of the hood would be thick with directly deposited or splashed glop. I'm sure you've walked through mud so sticky it almost sucked your shoes off your feet. Now imagine what it'll do given all those surfaces and crannies to adhere to. Similarly, the rear spare's lower part would get a fair amount of splash on its underside, as would the back of the jeep, and general dirt on the top. Unless you've got a newish vehicle, all the exposed upper parts would have a certain amount of sun bleaching, over which all the dust and mud would go. I invite you to do a little field research and return with a realistically muddy jeep to go with your somewhat dusty current one. It shouldn't be that hard to find someone who goes four-wheeling. Everything you've done so far is a great improvement over what we had going in, but major possibilities exist to do some really great work which eclipses everything you've done so far. I hope this helps you in your valued mod endeavors. Regards, John Kettler

Stop the presses! The previously described nuke of a declaration was sent to me by mistake and doesn't apply to me. The battle rages on. Well, it would rage on if I got a turn. Peter's defenses would benefit greatly from a nuking. Then they wouldn't be so viciously boisterous in this classically Wild Bill uphill fight into the teeth of the defense. What genius back at HQ decided this was a good idea? Nothing from von Lucke, nor have I heard a peep from either of my two as yet unfought foes. Surrender or fight! Regards, John Kettler

I got a mixed bag movie from Tom, said movie accompanied by a nuke of a declaration. I don't know quite what's going on or why, but I believe the game with him is about to end abruptly. Stay tuned! Am attempting to suppress Peter's @#$% and thus limit casualties while continuing the advance. Of course, I don't know where the rest of his troops are. Haven't heard from von Lucke today. Regards, John Kettler

Michael, Done! Regards, John Kettler

Wild Bill continues his well established tradition of proctology via RotoRooter in my game against Peter Svensson. The intel brief was codswallop, and I've run into @#%^ from which I've taken major lumps the last couple of turns and have suffered ^&* among my Z. And did I mention it's !@#$? CQB is the order of the day in my fight vs. von Lucke, who is harrying my attempts to deal with the penetration by shooting through gaps in his screen as his main force advances to the dulcet tones of the steelthroated warbler. My task is to wipe out the penetration before the main force arrives, to which end I'm busy shifting forces. The battle's extremely chaotic and confused. Most of his effort is directed against my right, but there is much lighter activity in the center. Tom has mounted some audacious and sneaky maneuvers which surprised me and did a lot of damage. Some of those involved paid dearly for upsetting me thus. Others seem well positioned to do all sorts of mischief. I've been dishing out the pain, too, via carefully coordinated small counterattacks. Am still waiting to hear from my two so far unfought foes in Section II. Time's running out, and the holidays are fast approaching. We need to at least start our games. Regards, John Kettler

rexford, That was AP and APC, not AP and APCBC. For reasons I don't pretend to understand, we did very little ammo development work on the 57mm. Given this, it's a good thing the Germans spent most of their time on the defensive. Had they been able to mount more attacks, maybe that would've motivated us. BTW, did you solve your Firefly armor problem yet? I recall that several of us were feeding you info on one of the models, but it's late, and I don't remember the exact nomenclature. You may also wish to wade into the "Allied Schutzenplatte" thread and educate some people there about what many of the American and British ad hoc protection measures did to actually degrade the armor's effectiveness. Regards, John Kettler

Steve, Your comment about your research woes, which appeared in the notorious "Allied Schutzenplatte" thread, triggered a synapse. I have some issues of the now defunct AFV-G2 armor magazine. One of them (AFV G-2, Vol. 6, No. 7) has a response to an earlier article called "Hungarian WWII Armor" (AFV-G2, Vol. 6, No.4). The 1979 letter itself is from Ing. (Engineer) Ivan Batjos of Kosice, Czechoslovakia and evidences deep study of his subject and great mastery of same. Example: "The "Csabas" pictured were not seen during the 1941 "Barbarossa" campaign but were in the area of Bacska (left out diacritical over "a"; JK) in Yugoslavia, in April of 1941." He goes on to give the exact date and Yugoslavian magazine in which the picture referred to first appeared. He corrects the use of (diacriticals omitted, JK) Honved, the term for a member of the Hungarian Army, where Honvedseg, the Hungarian Army, should've been used. These are but two of twelve extremely detailed comments he makes. If I were you, I'd try to get my hands on the original article from AFV-G2, first pinging the treadheads here for help, then posting your request at the AFV News discussion group board (www.activevr.com/afv) to hugely broaden your search base. If the troops can't, I'm sure George Bradford can. I'll happily supply the text of the letter once you have the original article in hand. The next thing I'd suggest is that you get our European brethren to work to locate Ing. Ivan Batjos, starting with an Internet search and going from there. Chances are, he's still alive and active in some treadhead or military modeling group. Have you been in touch with Steve Zaloga? Have you read the book he and James Grandsen coauthored called THE EASTERN FRONT: Armour Camouflage and Markings 1941 to 1945? It has an entire section devoted to Hungarian armor. Missing Lynx (www.missing-lynx.com) has an area devoted to Steve Zaloga's beautifully built and painted Hungarian armor. You might also wish to see whether Osprey ever got around to publishing a Men at Arms book on the Hungarian Army in World War II. I hope these ideas are helpful. Sincerely, John Kettler

Jeff, That's what I call a real find. The comment about the gift of APDS from the British is telling, and I'd love to know whence came the HE. Was it the same source? The reason I ask is what retired RA Master Gunner and Instructor in Ammunition at the Royal Military College Ian Hogg says on page 124 of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INFANTRY WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR II, Bison Books, London, 1977, concerning the 57mm gun M1: "The greatest difference was that the American gun never had the range of ammunition available to the British weapon, only AP and APC projectiles ever being issued for it." This remark could be taken to mean that only these two projectile types were fielded for the gun, but what isn't clear is what Ian Hogg means on the British side of the equation. His equivalent text on the 6-pdr. (p. 118) mentions the succession of projectile types for the gun, but only AT projectiles: AP, APC, APCBC, APCR and APDS. Nowhere does he mention an HE capability. I suggest that we have our British confreres hie themselves to a library which has the HMSO Royal Ordnance volumes and see what can be learned there on this vexed HE ammo question while we here on this side of the Channel have recourse to the green U.S ARMY IN WORLD WAR II Ordnance volumes and see what's hiding in those covers. Based on the equivalent volume for the Chemical Warfare Service, which I do have, we ought to find lengthy discussions on adoption of the gun, ammunition development for it, and reams of production statistics on the gun and its various projectiles. I hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler

Make mine the third, and I dug out von Senger und Etterlin's GERMAN TANKS OF WORLD WAR II to check both pictures and text. It's unambiguously a Panzer IIIA. Somehow, I completely missed that vehicle in my years of treadhead delvings. Regards, John Kettler

Shandorf, I read your post, but was ambushed by your sig. Totally cracked me up! Thanks for a much needed laugh. Regards, John Kettler

Treeburst155, Your problems may have been caused by, or at least aggravated by, a recent X class solar flare which was followed Saturday by a severe geomagnetic storm (pegged the upper scale). My iMac was almost impossible to boot properly, and I couldn't get online for many hours. I got an instant error message every time I tried to connect via Netscape. I called my ISP, and we checked the line and trouble calls there. Clean. They thought I had a serious modem problem. Today, the solar storm is gone, and we're down to an M class flare. Guess what? My computer works fine. I should also tell you that the Japanese have run lab tests in which granite blocks were crushed to mimic crustal movement. The resulting scattered frequency piezoelectric emissions were found to upset all kinds of electronic functions, especially computers. They even made quartz watches run backwards. Before the Seattle quake there were many reports, especially from PC users in the Pacific Northwest, of computer problems ranging from windows and programs opening and closing by themselves, to computers switching on, down through hard drive failures and outright PC losses. I myself had boot problems and serious Internet access problems in the days right before the Seattle quake. All problems cleared after it hit. There are indications that the planet is presently under great seismic strain, so that may be part of your woes. Hang in there, for there's no stress like cyber stress. Hope this helps. Sincerely, John Kettler

How ironic that I'm now getting turns from Tom but not from the rest of you! Please send some soonest. Also, I have an opening for one or two games in Section II and two of you left to fight, having completed battles vs. Kingfish, Holien and CDIC and with battles in progress vs. Tom, von Lucke and Peter Svensson. Tom is pushing for a breakthrough on my left (exciting and about to become excessively so) and is driving hard for a major VL in my right rear. Meanwhile, I'm chewing up his men to my front right, am counterattacking the near flank of his push on my rear while facing it head-on in my rear. I guarantee a fierce fight there. Regards, John Kettler

Fuerte, I have not been shunning you. Rather, after consulting with Treeburst155 in his official capacity here and in Rumblings, he suggested I temporarily stand down here, in order to concentrate on getting my eight Section II games done in Rumblings, which has a much shorter deadline. In that affray I have completed games vs. Kingfish, CDIC and Holien and have games in progress against Tom (halfway through), Von Lucke (close to halfway) and Peter Svensson (barely begun). That makes six of the mandatory eight, after which the section winner will face the other section winners. My deadline's coming up, and so are the holidays. I might be able to squeeze a game in here, but the time crunch on the other end is a firebreathing dragon which will devour me if I'm not careful. Why not contact Treeburst155 yourself and see what he thinks? I'm not trying to jam up you or anyone else here, but I can only do so much at a time. Regards, John Kettler [ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: John Kettler ]</p>

I sent Treeburst155 the last turn of my battle with CDIC and even included the AAR. I sent Holien the AAR for our previously concluded fight. Tom was kind enough to send me a turn. He's pushing hard on my left but is taking some abuse on my right. Regards, John Kettler

Following a series of foulups verging on farcical, I finally got the last turn from CDIC. The turn had an extremely high pucker factor. The outcome is classified, but I can say that CDIC and I tore each other apart and beat each other into bloody pulp. Both of us are feeling naked, but for different reasons. Holidays notwithstanding, I'd love some turns from the rest of my foes and am looking for another Section II fight as well. Regards, John Kettler

Tom sent me a turn the same night I last posted. The bloodletting continues across the full width of the board. He's pushing hard on both flanks, with more success on my right. I was force fed an unripe persimmon by CDIC in the next to last turn. Casualties were fierce, but I got myself into good field position in what amounted to an unplanned sacrifice play. von Lucke has finally penetrated into C behind his cloud formation, but lost another D in the process of approaching. His E has my F under direct fire, but my G has a surprise in store. I await further developments. Regards, John Kettler

Ogadai, Russian Battlefield (http://history.vif2/ru) says that the Russians fielded plates much like the ones the Germans had, but specifically to deal with the Panzerfaust threat. Indeed, there is a poignant passage where a tanker raps on another tank to visit then belatedly notices a kopeck sized hole (small coin) from a Panzerfaust penetration and realizes the occupants are all dead. The site has quite a few photos of these factory built spaced armor installations. I believe there was also a device which looked something like bedsprings from a mattress. I'm open on whether the Russians "liberated" bedsprings from Germany and Austria for earlier production models. The accounts I've read were from German infantry veterans who doubtless had no knowledge of what the Russians were turning out for special protection against the Panzerfaust threat. If anyone has a picture of a British tank equipped as Ogadai's quote states, please post it. Regards, John Kettler

Peter Svensson and I are at war! Deployments are complete. The attack's begun! It's almost over vs. CDIC. The fight has been murderous, but I've pulled a last minute nasty surprise which has already borne bitter fruit for him to eat. Whether or not that diet continues remains to be seen. If it works, I'll probably get a draw. If not, he wins. Period. Von Lucke is confused. He's imitating Yahweh with the Hebrews in the desert by hiding in a pillar of smoke from which issues fire and lightning. Needs to work on his geography, terrain and season, though. When it comes to smiting, I'm ahead. His version of Yahweh arrived too late to save his people. Great was the destruction. Nothing from Tom since Saturday. Regards, John Kettler

Ogadai, While I regret you weren't able to watch it wherever you live, I did at least have enough awareness to realize that more than one country has a History Channel and strove to avoid confusion. Assuming there's not a format problem (NTSC here/ PAL many other places), you will, I'm sure, be able to order the videotapes from www.historychannel.com. The set may be available already for all I know. If not, just wait. It will be. A further potential consideration may be what country you live in and its rules about what may be imported. It's sad but true that military historical information and programming is not universally available to anyone in that person's native language, too. I don't have ready access to untold thousands of Russian works and some apparently amazing movies, the Finns clearly have heavy documentation of the Winter War and World War II, plus their own films, and these are but two of a long list indeed. I sought only to inform those who had the requisite access that something of potentially great interest was on. Anything beyond that is on the heads of my accusers, who clearly know me not. Regards, John Kettler