John Kettler

Thomm, Forgive me, but I absolutely don't understand the basis of your questioning where I posted this. How is this very meaty article NOT relevant to CMBN MG? This Forum is decks awash with pertinent military history articles, discussion of military books, combat performance, weapon tech, relevant manuals, TO&E, tactics and more. The CM Forums have been this way from at least 2000 when I got here, and the article would seem to me to be of that same ilk and dead on topic regarding MG Airborne Ops. There has been similar material provided for any number of ops in the ETO, MTO and the Eastern Front, down to, for example, extensive discussions of what exactly Lend-Lease did for the Russian war effort and what weapons were shipped, and how much of that actually got through. Did you read the article? If you did, then I'm even more perplexed than if you were simply responding to the post alone. The Omnibus thread was specifically for things NOT falling under gameplay, the items I listed, and likely a few categories I forgot. Regards, John Kettler

It's long, highly detailed and has an annotated map, too, plus numerous pics, of which my favorite is of a Bren in action. Be advised there are a couple of typos which may cause confusion. The first regards the composition of SS Division Fruendsberg's PJ Battalion, whose composition is listed as 26 Jagdpanzer IVs and 12 40mm towed antitank guns. Believe this should be 12 PaK40. That one is much easier to sort out than the composition of Panzer Brigade 107's full-strength Panzer Grenadier Battalion, listed as having an unbelievable 116 SPWs, not including those of the Pioneer company. Problems notwithstanding, it's quite the informative read, and I learned a lot from it. Had no idea how dire things got, simply in protecting the US landing zones or the repeatedly acute manpower and supply positions. The article has all sorts of usable items for putting together scenarios, too, with many forces quite amenable to CM scenario work. Major General Michael Reynolds (Ret.) wrote the article, and the sole reply indicated he erred on some people and the date of a photo, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-forgotten-american-airborne-of-operation-market-garden/ MGEN Reynolds was quite the British soldier, but that didn't stop him from making scathing, withering comments about four major British commanders, starting with Montgomery, then descending. He authored a bunch of military books, of which I've read the excellent and gripping Steel Inferno. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12035846/Major-General-Mike-Reynolds-obituary.html Regards, John Kettler P.S. Unless something has changed since last week "A Bridge Too Far" is available on Free Trial or free to Amazon Prime members. A must see war pic, especially for those who've never seen it.

And don't forget drainage ditches. CMBN never had them. Holland is pretty flat in the MG zone. NIjmegen http://www.floodmap.net/Elevation/ElevationMap/?gi=2750053 Arnhem http://www.floodmap.net/Elevation/ElevationMap/?gi=2759661 Holland as a whole http://www.floodmap.net/Elevation/CountryElevationMap/?ct=NL Regards, John Kettler

'Tis the season for treadhead goodness AND possible use by the people doing sound mods. Have found time and again people either put music over the actual tank sounds or, if a museum day, it's catch as catch can to get clean audio because of frequent PA/Tannoy interruptions. This one has no interference of either type, nor an untimely overflight, either. Regards, John Kettler

If there was an announcement on the Forums I missed it outright and couldn't find it after looking for one, either. The only reason I know about the game release and the store is that I went there to get the CMFI Demo for someone. Love the cool rotating header on the home page, and the stills for CMSF2 look spectacular. Am sure there are lots of thrilled CMSF1 owners these days, who now have the huge improvements from the 4.0 Engine and far higher quality renderings, too, plus loads of fresh content. Also, there will be others all excited that, with CMSF2 now released, their eagerly awaited game is now that much closer! Speaking of the new store, I ran into a frustrating problem and have a request as a result. If memory serves, Demos used to be under support, but a careful search of both Support and Patches found no demos. Nor did a search for that word turn up anything. I eventually found it in a bullet item for CMFI, whose Demo I sought. Would you please make the Demos rapidly locatable in the dropdown menus? Thanks! Regards, John Kettler

Wicky, Congratulations on grossly misrepresenting pretty much everything in your last reply! It is a tour de force piece of mischaracterization, wholesale distortion and unwillingness to accept any responsibility for multitudinous bad acts, some devastating, as part of a coterie which has been on me going at least as far back as eight (8) years, based on message traffic. sburke, Aside from the initial warning message, apparently lost in a server issue, I have copies of what was said by the then mod. Accurately reported what was said and done. Ref posts, compared to what it was, my volume of posting is way down, because, since I'm still, sadly and many months later (last played in August) in no shape to play CM, I am more active on a CoC FB board and another for a gaming group near me that plays all sorts of minis. I also set up a single thread on the original GDF for things not falling under a direct CM ambit. Am trying to be judicious about what I put where, too, when it is CM type material regarding history, organization, weapon performance, tactics, etc. Clearly, some things I've posted in the past haven't been your (and some others) cup of tea, but that doesn't necessarily negate them, however out there they may seem to you through your perceptual lens. Thewood1, Have responded to your posting complaints, and you didn't like what I did, either, in an effort to address them. Actions I have taken include: not starting as many threads, taking a more rigorous approach to posting in the CM threads and creating the omnibus thread in the original GDF as well. Sublime, Time and again you insist on dinging me about topics you know perfectly well I'm not supposed to talk about. Will say, though, that there is solid evidence, has been for decades, the first is true. Do some research on Maria Orsitch (sometimes Orsic) and see for yourself. 1stmuse has a very good writeup, and there was/is a YT video which gets into the matter, too. The second has also been extensively discussed, and somewhere around here I have the title of a German book published by a German veteran who personally saw the distinctive detonation phenomena. Regarding the third, you have conflated two different things and gotten a location wrong as well. The Predator suit was not used in Grenada. The Predator suit was in the jihadist video shot in Iraq. What I've said in the past was the US had man-portable HELs in Panama. That came from a soldier who was there who blurted it out to some close friends of mine. He also said: "The dudes looked like Robo Cop." Stand by reported confirmations on both. Am not replying directly to the fifth, since it's guaranteed trouble for me, but I will say you ought to check out the works of academic Dr. Michael Salla. He has, I think, created his own niche of study, and he consults with governments, think tanks and corporations on matters which may surprise you. I have given numerous responses over the years and have said as much as I could, given the very real restrictions under which I operated, of which first and foremost was source protection. Have no idea why it is people so blithely accept day in and day out unnamed sources in the MSM, magazines, newspapers, etc., but then seem to think I'm supposed to give up my sources, just because they say so. Because Steve required this of me ref intel stuff, I had to refrain from posting lots of excellent material on Ukraine and other matters. You are incorrect in claiming I've never admitted I'm wrong, for I have on a bunch of occasions. Will say, though, that sometimes Capricorn tenacity and Teutonic stubbornness make it hard for me to get there. Being under heavy Forum fire doesn't help, either, for it overloads my brain. Also, I had a father who was as intransigent as the day is long when it came to ceding a point in a debate. Relative to him, I'm a pussycat, but I'm sure what he modeled affected me considerably. Nor does my neurological situation help at times. Don't know why you are getting so much flak on the DCS boards, since I have no idea what you're saying that is so upsetting to some, but I do belong here and have no intention of leaving my online home of nearly 20 years. Most of my 15K+ posts have not been extraneous info, either. This is readily demonstrable. Regards, John Kettler

Combatintman, Appreciate the info and the related thoughts! Would note I posted in the wee hours and provided what info I could given I was trying to stay focused enough to simply pass the word. You dug deeper than I did, but I was lucky to get the post out at all, for a number of reasons. I selected the title based on the approach of the article and having no real detailed knowledge on the battle per se, though I read some accounts years ago. mjkerner, Working on it. MOS:96B2P Tavern humor, probably involving beer. NO indication as to skittles. Regards, John Kettler

By sheer happenstance while trying to help a CoC gamer I found this in the sidebar. Was fascinated to learn there is a German expert, Helmut Von Keusgen, on the history of the German batteries at Normandy who has not only written a bunch of books on some of the others, but now has a controversial one on the Pegasus Bridge and the Merville Battery, based on what evidently are previously unpublished revelatory eyewitness accounts from the German side. The article below got me excited and curious, but frustratingly, the book was first published in German and now in French. It was published October 4th of this year in the French edition and is so new Amazon doesn't have a review on it yet. The Amazon description is so short that laconic would seem verbose by comparison. Nor is Look Inside enabled. Has anyone here glanced at or read it? https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/normandy/news/controversial-book-pegasus-bridge-helmut-von-keusgen Regards, John Kettler

One of the guys who plays minis nearby posted this on the group's FB page. Believe it's a superb choice for the thread, being the single weirdest Advent Calendar I've ever seen, since it comes with 8 x Hot Wheels and a racetrack! Special for Michael Emrys Regards, John Kettler

Thewood1, I started the Omnibus Post so that I wouldn't have to deal with all the complaints about my starting lots and lots of new threads. That, of course, didn't stop the complaints and instead brought another one! Regarding sanity retention and the Forums, had the Forum Rules been enforced instead of blatantly ignored when it came to violations typically aimed at me and sometimes others, there would NEVER have been a crisis to begin with. The situation got so bad that some of the old hands here publicly concluded that attacking me was de facto BFC policy. Wouldn't go that far, but I will say that the Mod involved for years messaged me that and more privately, making it quite clear his first objective was to find an excuse to suspend me, with the goal of banning me. In his own words, he deemed me a threat to both the Forums and to BFC. Who knew I wielded such power? THAT is why the haters time and again knowingly, willfully, grossly and flagrantly violated practically every single one of the Forum Rules, yet NEVER were dinged or suspended, still less banned. And I wasn't the only person who noticed this and sounded off, either. But that same Mod gave me an official ding for the nonexistent offense of inviting someone look up certain specifics (after challenging me on something I said) on my internet abode--without posting the verboten URL. That is why the Forums became so super stressful that they were damaging to me, for this showed the haters that I was fair game. But the damage was really worse, for the Forums were a great place for me to connect with generally nice people from all over the world and helped destress me. While I take sburke's point about internet conversations, the simple truth is that the board bullies were allowed to operate unchecked, and I was told by others they'd either left the Forums or ceased posting because of what was done to them by those same bullies. Long ago I decided I was NOT going to be treated thus, both on principle and for personal reasons. Should NEVER have had to fight this battle (okay, long campaign) to begin with. Wrapping up, there seems to be this strange belief among the haters that I am required to do their bidding or else be (justifiably) assailed, when that assailment is yet another prohibited behavior that contravenes the Forum Rules. Those Rules need to be fairly and consistently applied, which they manifestly have not been in the past. Regards, John Kettler

What with all the carping and kvetching of late, I thought I'd start an omnibus post thread for various items of interest, but which aren't necessarily directly connected to CM. For my first effort, wish to note that the new season the gritty EPIX CIA series "Berlin Station" is about SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT Putin's hybrid warfare as applied to Estonia. We pick up the story after the Green Men, but operating in mufti, have begun to arrive and operate, as the Kremlin seeks to create domestic terror and conduct destabilization ops, thus "justifying" intervention to protect ethnic Russians. Estonia has a potent weapon to use, the issuance of full citizen status, expressed by passport color, to the previously rights restricted ethnic Russians, thus removing the single biggest exploitable grievance, the second-class status of ethnic Russians there. Naturally, this is the last thing the Kremlin wants, for it sees the opportunity window closing for moving against Estonia, together with the cascading opportunities therefrom. The situation is one in which swift action must be taken by the CIA officers, but it must be the right action, too and not turn a small fire into a conflagration which might bring direct Russian attack upon Estonia. Estonia is a NATO member, but Estonia's leaders are deeply unsure NATO will intervene if Russia does attack. Whoever's writing the new season got into/read some serious research of various aspects of the fraught situation, resulting in all sorts of wonderful grog chrome, including Russian hackles raised over their war memorials but Estonia's symbols of oppression and repression, Stasi, raising and motivating UNCONs, covert bases, stealth transport, wet work and more. The episodes I saw were so gripping I would've binge watched the entire season had it been available. The new season of "Berlin Station" provides its viewers with a real understanding of the nuts and bolts of hybrid warfare in the target country, in a way none of the news coverage really could, but presented as an engrossing, immersive and oft disturbing spy story. CMBS doesn't have all the pieces yet to model it there, though am sure something could be done with a bit of cleverness. CMFS and CMFS2, since they have UNCONs, offer considerably more options, but would require tons of reskinning alone for buildings and terrain, let alone the troops. Regards, John Kettler

Wicky, You really need to get over my posts from long ago and take a deep look at why you, to this day, feel compelled to belittle, even attack me. It's not as if you can't be both reasonable and helpful, after all. You have NEVER owned your years of savagery toward me, to the point where it, from you and well-known others, practically drove me mad and cost me four (4) months of recovery progress from my TBI. And when I cried out and begged you all to stop, you kept at it. This revealed your true colors in a way nothing else could. Such was your animus toward me that you didn't care that you were severely harming me. Shame on the lot of you! Regards, John Kettler

Morphy's is one of the premiere auction houses for firearms of several stripes, and if you'd like to see some of what's out there and you you could've had, here you go. One weapon you'd think would've really expensive wasn't, but others were brutal. Regards, John Kettler

dkchapuis, April Morning, by Howard Fast. Read it long ago, but it was absolutely gripping. https://www.amazon.com/April-Morning-Novel-Howard-Fast/dp/0553273221 As a directly related aside, back in my elementary school days when things were generally safe and sane, we had a dude, a New Yorker who wore cowboy boots, bring in a real Revolutionary War flintlock musket musket (with bayonet) for show and tell. Apparently, his parents owned an old farm in upstate New York, and this treasure was found in the barn. Was singularly fortunate to be able to handle this historic weapon briefly. Of course, such a glorious event (starting with simply bringing it to school) would be totally verboten in all particulars these days. Regards, John Kettler

Wicky, Are you telling me there have never been any Audie Murphy discussions or, for that matter, Smokey Smith discussions on any of the CM game forums, as opposed to the GDF? How about this? http://community.battlefront.com/topic/98346-whats-wrong-with-the-m10s-50-cal/ And this? http://community.battlefront.com/topic/106288-m10-mounted-mg/ Still working on Smokey Smith, but one exception disproves the rule, and I've already found two threads in which several different people talk about Audie Murphy. Given this, pray explain why the only Canadian to win a VC is irrelevant, especially when accompanied with some thoughts on current game limitations in modeling this amazing man and what he did to be awarded that oft posthumous VC. Regards, John Kettler

para, Perhaps your confusion arises from the fact that we have two General Discussion Forums. The first is this one, the General Discussion Forum (GDF), which has been around since the CM Forums began. The new arrival is the Combat Mission General Discussion Forum (CMGDF). The GDF is explicitly designated for that which has nothing to do with CM, and this used to be a jumping joint, to put it mildly. It got more traffic than the gaming forums. These days, it's a veritable ghost town. The CMGDF is specifically to address matters for all CMx2 titles. In practice, though, unless you're me or a few other people, many matters NOT CMGDF pertinent get brought up and discussed.Those posters get a pass, whereas the first group gets flak, But the forum titles make it easy to confuse them, and I've had several misposts as a result, but sometimes missed the mistake outright. sburke, A most insightful explanation, and I love that you brought history to life by citing familial experiences. Isn't everyday that happens here. Regards, John Kettler

This one's pretty layered. https://www.tumbex.com/girlactionfigure.tumblr/post/158941154708/for-three-months-i-was-disguised-as-a-man-and Regards, John Kettler

While we all know the iconic Rosie the Riveter, I daresay most her have never seen her counterpart, shown here with a nice long caption explaining black women in the workforce during World War 2. Time to set the photographic record straight. If you blow up the first image, on the left edge you can clearly see the legend "OWI" followed by a reference number. This shows these are official government sanctioned and censor approved pics. Not responsible for hashtags! https://www.tumbex.com/endangered-justice-seeker.tumblr/post/177444312412/rare-photos-of-black-rosie-the-riveters Regards, John Kettler

Love that this reporter is doing for the child, but man, is it out there! Regards, John Kettler

Asked a question about someone's 16th Century, I think, cannon model over on the local game group forum (miniatures) and afterwards went looking for some historical info on artillery of the Pike and Shotte period, finding this, which has a bunch of articles of well done articles and a few ordnance function animations. https://www.arc.id.au/Cannonballs.html?fbclid=IwAR1BCRUTyFO2ldR_BJ_YdOF8Ccd2XQjMEYNzhdLGF6gLLWXzuf2zlCFecV4 Regards, John Kettler

Not only is this great purely on the veteran side, but it gives the lie to those who claim those we liberated not only have forgotten but are ungrateful, too. Regards, John Kettler

The perfect solution to stores requiring shoes. Mind, the staff might make a mess upon seeing these. Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, Are you sure that's not a German cat trained to subtly interfere with enemy soldiery? Meanwhile, here's what you get with a REALLY tight transport budget. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10214578830437499&set=gm.2194140990802092&type=3&eid=ARAZHa8lPrM5GP5iAijjZ2DP8mytN3C4Eda8fs96S3NPiaPGxU4-g52Yg_A1KdY-RpCRBZ6Vs8-t63jz&ifg=1 Regards, John Kettler

StieliAlpha, A most interesting discussion on a subject area of which I knew zero going in. Thanks! Regards, John Kettler

SlowMotion, Now, THAT was something. Wow and a superbly done set of demos! Regards, John Kettler