von Lucke

Guernica = Dresden Nanking = Hiroshima There are no non-combatants in a total war. You do what you must to win. That is all.

Generally speaking, Hitler merely served as the compass by which the Reich set it's course --- up until late 1941, when he took a more direct role in things, which resulted in vast numbers of German soldiers being over-run in hopeless "stand or die" situations. Up until then, Hitler was a little in awe of the General Staff (that Corporal mentality again) and usually had to have a lot of evidence on his side before he would go against them. IIRC, Manstein's plan to invade France was thoroughly war-gamed up the chain of command (and worked every time) before Hitler would back it against his General Staff's inclinations to repeat WW1. If Hitler had disregarded Goering's advice (and who wouldn't?) and had pressed the bombing of the RAF airfields, England might have found itself as another province of the Greater Reich (war over in Oct of 40?), and people might put Adolf in the same group as Napoleon. Sosabowski: Hmmm, I think you need to progress further up the chain of command before you start laying claims of lack of initiative on the Wehrmacht. German NCO's and officers where strictly taught a doctrine of "any action is better than none" and trained to operate at the next highest level of command. Percentage-wise, the Wehrmacht had fewer commisioned officers than any other nation because it's NCO's often acted in the same capacity. Time and again, local counter-attacks were rapidly put together on only the initiative of local commanders. Now, the operational release of divisions and above was another story... Speedy: The same reason we got involved in Kosovo: Americans have a self-righteous air of law and order that makes them think they know what's best for everybody. Even though tribal rivalries have existed in Somalia and "Yugoslavia" for hundreds of years, we figure we'd mosie on in and declare "there's a new sheriff in town! Ya'll can just break it up and head back to the corral!" and everything will be alright. Well, suprise! what happens is that the American soldier just becomes the object of everybody's hate and frustration (read: common target), and we end up pulling out with our tail between our legs. Hell, if the NYPD can't clean up their own city, how do we expect to do it in a foreign nation? Maybe Clinton should read a little Macchiavelli...

Spielberg says he got the idea for the opening (and closing) sequences from a trip he made to the Normandy WW2 Memorial cemetary back in the late '70's. He says he witnessed an old man (with multiple family generations in tow) slowly walk up and down the rows of markers until he found the one he had been searching for, and then fall to his knees in tears...

The only other US tank mounting the 90mm was the M36 Gun Motor Carriage (or Tank Destroyer, if you prefer). Dunno if the Brits ever got their hands on either, tell the truth. But by the time both saw service, the Brits were fielding a plethora of 17lbr mounted tanks (Archer, Challenger, Firefly, Wolverine, Comet) and trying to develop the 20lbr (83mm) mounting Centurion, so I don't think they would have had too much interest in 'em.

Well, this seems as good a thread as any to waste my 30th post on!

Sure the A12 Matilda was slow --- it was designed to move at the pace of the infantry. That, and it's motivational force was provided by a pair of 190 HP bus engines ill-suited to moving 60,000 lbs of steel. But I'd take one over a Cruiser any day: At least with a Matilda, you stood a chance of coming back alive...

Well, if you noticed that one long tracking shot, you probably already noticed the 2 kinds of filming at work in SPR: Most of the movie is the pretty traditional fare, but whenever a fire-fight comes about we're treated to the hand-held-documentary-camera version of SPR --- as exemplified in the SPW 251 ambush sequence. Kinda puts the audience in the action...

Samuel Barber's "Adiago for Strings".

Hmmm. Not that I want to be the agent provocateur here, but I think somebody has to ask: What if I submit an Negro visage to the mix? I know there were African-American combat troops deployed in WW2 (there was a whole division in Italy), but I don't recall reading about too many in the SS. And if it's all going to be assigned randomly, this could lead to some odd encounters...

Graphics? We don' need no stinkin' graphics! As a long-time Red Baron 2 player, I can tell you, if someone doesn't like CM's graphics as shipped, they will post their own versions within weeks! (As I believe is being done with the demo even now). It's the little things --- like the interface, the editor, subtle AI tweaks --- that make a game worthy of a continued spot on my hard-drive... And to everyone whining that they want CM now: You'll prolly be the first one's to start whining that the game sucks if it ends up being released too early...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aacooper: The fact is, sometimes American tactics, fighting men, and strategy were better than the Germans, and sometimes the Germans were better than the Americans. There were very few battles with little airpower, good supply on both sides, and evenly matched foes. If you can cite a better example, please do. The lesson that I get from the Vosges is that the late-1944 U.S. fighting man was better than the German late-1944 fighting man because the U.S. didn´t skimp on training as the war went on.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, I'd have to cite the fighting in the Huertgen Wood between Sept - Dec '44, and Kesselring's defense of the Gothic Line in Italy during the same period. [This message has been edited by von Lucke (edited 02-23-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kevin Christensen: The book interesting in that it takes on the general presumption that German WWII Military organization was better, and should be emulated by todays armies. Kevin Christensen Lawrence, KS<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I was under the impression that the US Army already took this tack back in the late '80's --- about the same time they started introducing the "Light Division" concept and the decidedly Germanic-looking kevlar helmets...

BDW: Somebody who tried your email sez it didn't go through. But, since this is one of my pet projects, here's a link to the best online source for Frank Luke Jr.: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7133/index.html I also read somewhere that Fox Studios already has a script in development(it's called "21" -- the age Luke was when he died), but you know how that goes.

Fascinating piece of work --- thanks for the link!

Hmmm, lessee heah: Division level casualties for Huertgen Wood: 2nd and 9th Armored Div's: About 4500 ea. 28th Inf Div: About 7000 4th Inf Div: About 7000 (The above include such things as battle fatigue and trench foot --- though the vast majority are battle casualties of front-line troops). Most of these losses occured in one months time between Sept and Dec 44. Hell, the 2nd Ranger Batt took over 90% casualties in a single day fighting over a landmark called Hill 400! (Hey, now that would make a good CM scenario, eh? Rangers who made it through called the fighting at Hill 400 a hundred times worse than what they'd gone through at Pointe-du-Hoc on D-day).

Pardon moi! 100% turnover; 100% replacement; 100% casualties --- whatever you want to call it. But when a company in the 4th Div. goes in with 162 men, and one month later has 287 recorded battle losses, how would you refer to it (other than as a tragic waste of man-power)?

Somehow I got the impression those "Mark IV's" where actually heavily modified T-72's (wasn't the movie filmed in some former Eastern Bloc nation?) The movie itself was kinda so-so. Can't say I was overly impressed with the acting, but the broad story kinda gave the right impression about the Heurtgen Forest operation: Several divisions that went into those woods came out with over 100% losses --- the worst disaster for American troops since D-day. Matter of fact, losses where so heavy, and the objectives so vague, that military sensors pretty much covered up the whole thing until after the war was over.

Man, there's always gonna be somebody who want's the "ultimate" killing machine... Gimme a G43 and a panzerfaust and I'll take on the lot o' yah single-handed! (Oh, didn't I mention that the hand tied behind my back would be attached to a Sturmmorser Tiger?)

CM2 or 3 will deal with operations on the Ost Front, yes? Since CM is limited to battalion strength ops, won't that make simulating a realistic encounter rather difficult? Sure, a battalion (+ or -) size kampfgruppe will work for the Germans, but what about the Soviets? Wouldn't a typical battle require the Germans to be out-numbered 5 to 1 (if not more)?

Some years ago I made a trip to Reno, Nevada for the annual Air Races: I remember watching in awe as two P-38's, a Bearcat, several P-51's, a Hawker Sea Fury, and of all things, some maniac had a DC-6 up there. Now that's something to see: All those WW2 prop fighters whipping along 1000 ft over the desert floor... And, as I recall, one of the P-51's had his engine sieze up, and ended up making a belly-landing umongst the cactus...

In the wings, where else? Actually, the 12x .303's set-up had first been tried in the Hurricane IIb before being carried over into the "Tiffie". Oh, yeah, AFV: Aircraft Flying Vertically.

This isn't specifically on topic, but I was curious whether air attacks in CM will always be spot-on the target? I mean, is there an possibility of pilot-error induced "friendly fire" against your own units?

A war story that begs to be told? Frank Luke and the 27th Aero: First modern American war hero (Congressional Medal of Honor!), pilot, young, handsome, outsider-beats-the-odds kinda story. Part of a war (WW1) that's not too familar to most Americans, so curiosity is a big factor in getting people into the theatre.... And best part is, it's a True Story!

Madmatt: You mean, perhaps, "Cross of Iron"? One of Pekinpah's more interesting efforts --- and being a former NCO myself, I always kinda identified with Steiner's attitude toward officers... howardb: Actually, what Dreamworks is doing is looking at re-making an old Kirk Douglas movie called "The Heroes of Telemark" (1965), that dealt with just that subject. BDW: So what's the name of your production company?