Andreas

All of them irrelevant, see below. Rubbish, as far as arguments go. The German army planned to produce thousands of Panzer II by 1946 in their 1940 tank production planning, although that tank was outdated by the time. They just continued their current production numbers into the future without reassessing their utility. Utilisation of resources is not the question, effective utilisation is. Sisyphos utilises resources all day - to what effect? Input measurement is not a valid instrument when you are concerned about the outputs. Witness the UK government's problems in improving healthcare. Where was the impact of the missions felt? Examples please. But oh, Bastables has already given those to us, and you just chose to ignore them. Maybe the impact was felt mostly in the vastly overclaimed kill statistics, and the pilots' mess, where they told each other how they rocketed 15 Tigers into oblivion that morning? So, what does that tell us about the FB use on the CM battlefield anyway? Should we have a few FBs humming about that don't do anything to simulate the use of resources by Allied high command? Again, rubbish as an argument that is CM related, or indeed related to the effectiveness of CAS. Rubbish, as Bastables has shown, and as indeed the experience of the Normandy and Italian battlefields has also shown. Massive interdiction did not prevent the presence of significant German forces on the battlefield. In Italy 'massive interdiction' did not prevent the German army in Italy from being supplied and reinforced well enough to not only hold the frontline, but also contain the Anzio-Nettuno bridgehead for months. If you want to get past that argument, you need to show some data, not just ignore Bastables' post. Anyway, even so if you want to simulate it in CM, you use the pre-battle reduction tool. Both in QBs or scenarios. In short, all utter tosh, as far as the content of your post is concerned. You are grasping at straws, when you are not busy insulting people much smarter and better read than you are in other threads. Your post is an example for the shallow reasoning that unfortunately is still clouding the understanding of what went on in the war. But keep reading, it must keep you from posting, and that is a good thing. I would have ignored you in the future, but following your series of posts in the other thread over night, and the growing realisation that the last thing this forum needs is someone like you, I just decided to take your argument apart. It is about as difficult and as enjoyable as kicking a puppy, so please endeavour to make a bit more of an effort next time. Where are my pipe and slippers?

Could be Portugal, apparently the mines at Fundao are one of the largest sites for the metal. There may also have been some domestic sites for the metal. To make up for it, the same site I found that on claims that Portugese Uranium was in the Hiroshima bomb. Edit: Check this out. [ September 19, 2003, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

30 years and a good flogging? A Singaporean caning? 25 years of hard labour on a nuclear waste dump in northern Siberia? Disable to part of the brain that is needed to understand 'lEEt' speak? Re-education a la 'A clockwork orange'? Decimisation, the Roman legion style? It is all about incentives to stop pirating.

I begged, I cried, I wrung my hands, I offered my first-born to Madmatt (if and when it arrives), I put ashes on my head, I went without sleep for months. Yet I could not get the T34 mineroller into CMBB. I won't even start on my campaign for inclusion of the 10cm K18, the misery caused to me is unspeakable. Wail and whinge, oh doomed lot. For without the T34 mineroller, what worth have our lives? Ooops, lunchtime.

You can't lock it now! I never had a thread that was so much about me. Makes me feel special. I would particularly like to thank Abbott for his warm words. And my parents. And the director. Sniff, I think I am going to start to cry. But yes, the whole thing should probably just be locked down. Hi Mom!

It keeps Michael off the street, which makes them safer. </font>

Happy Birthday Mike! I am always a day late in congratulating people. Nice to see you had a party going too. That must beat having a date. I am sure the others will join me in hoping you managed to get 'Lilly Marleen the SS-Doll' safely stowed away before (he/she/it - cross out inapplicable) showed.

It keeps Michael off the street, which makes them safer.

The Centurion was a wartime design, used for a long time after the war, although, like the IS-3, it did not see service in WW2.

I would not call the black slick gold. But then again, what do I know.

81mm on-board mortars do work against T26, and I would presume other light tanks. It takes a lot of mortars, and rounds, but they can make a difference.

OT/STARTS Cabron, I am not hiding anywhere. I suggest you look up the word 'banter', and after that 'good-natured', in the dictionaries. If you want to continue this discussion in a civil manner, you can email me, that way we avoid boring each and everyone here. OT/ENDS Now, does anyone have the numbers on winter garments issued to the Germans in winter 42/43, and or some uniform grog analysis of whether they were any good?

I am not sure the bombing campaign was really that successful in 1943, I have never really looked at that. Just a bit of anecdotal evidence here: As some of you may know, I studied for my first degree at University of Kassel. The campus is smack in the city centre, on the grounds of Henschel's weapons factory, where amongst other things the Tiger was built. AFAIK, this was the only place where Tiger I were produced (well, they may have produced them at Wegmann 'Im Loch' in Kassel too, but that is also city centre, to all intents and purposes). On the night of 22/23 October 1943, a devastating attack hit the city. Below the excerpt from the RAF website on the night. Kassel was a late medieval, half-timbered town in the centre, with Gruenderzeit appartment blocks on the edges of it. The firestorm could be seen from towns 60 or 70km away - when I was a taxi driver in Kassel, I talked to survivors and witnesses about it. One of my best friends lost his great aunt and her whole family in the raid. The figures below are the production numbers for the Tiger I. Month - Year - Plan - Accepted. You will immediately note the very serious drop in October and November and December (39, 33 and 20% respectively; the September figure is ten over plan, but August was ten under). Just some food for thought. Doing some extremely crude, very high-level analysis, just for the sake of it. Lets say the average Tiger took out ten allied tanks. This attack therefore at the upper end cancelled (80-50)+(84-56)+(88-67)=79 Tigers (a whole Abteilung) from Production, which would have saved almost three divisions (or a soviet tank army) of Allied tanks from destruction + assorted AT guns and infantry. For the loss of 43 planes. At the absolute upper end. [ September 17, 2003, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

Looking back at your post, you did not qualify it the way you do now (Siberians, battle of Moscow), but instead appeared to be making a general statement (Russians, Germans, no time period), which I think brought Mike's query on. Do you have any info on the issue of winter clothing from winter 42/43 in the Ostheer? I'd be quite interested to know (roughly) how much was actually issued.

Thank you kindly, dear Sir, and greetings to the Missus. I will endeavour to deepen my knowledge of this 'humour' thingie, until I finally get to grips with it. Say, have I told you the one of the horse coming into a bar? Today was an exceptional day in the humour department, when I made some city types laugh about my presentation (or me, who knows). I doff my bowler hat to you. Now I have to go and get out of my pin-striped suit, to watch 'spin city' in comfort. I am trying to train in North-American humour. Really, I just like to ogle Caitlin.

That's pretty nice, actually. But the blurb says I get to experience Unconditional Surrender in Berlin. What scenario is that in? Or is that only part of the Special Edition? Will there be an online download that will allow me to experience Unconditional Surrender in Berlin? It sounds kind of titillating. </font>

Yes, and unfortunately there's always a forum for you to be a moron in. I do commend you for one thing. Most people would be tempted to hide it, but you appear to be very comfortable with your own stupidity. </font>

Yeah, that is what you think. Have you ever heard me speak? Riddle me this - was the necktie considered an item that the fashionable commonwealth soldier would go into combat with? In reality, not in a 'The way we fight' docu-soap for the home-front. I always had the impression that a scruffy unbuttoned collar, fitting the half-smoked cigarette, was a more likely look.

Depends on which year you talk about. While I would not profess to know anything about the material used, the general comment I see in German books is that by winter 42/43 German regular winter gear had improved markedly (over and above the 'there was one' level, which in itself would have been an improvement), and was considered adequate by the users. I have no idea how many soldiers were issued with it though, it seems to feature a lot in pictures, which is no prove either way, anyway. I would be surprised if the Soviets managed to provide fur for all their soldiers' uniforms. Fur was, and is a luxury item, driven by the relative scarcity of it. But again, that is just a hunch. Grisha should know more... Just going through the pictures in Vladimir Karpov's 'Russia at War' 1941-45, it seems there was a real mix of stuff for the Soviets. The 'fur' caps seem to have been standard issue, but this can not be said for fur-lined overcoats, in those pictures. The quilted variety is standard, and some but not all had fur lining. The Germans seem to have used the same sort of fur cap, just with an eagle attached to the front. Two of von Paulus' staff are wearing them when they come out of their bunker after surrendering. But again, I am not a uniform grog. I have my ups and downs.

There is something very wrong in the world when a German, in England, goes shopping for Japanese beer </font>

I'm not laughing. [/QB]</font>

Repost from CMBB forum, for those not visiting yonder. Wandering around the wasteland that is central London yesterday, I not only did my Japanese beer-shopping, but also fell into a budget bookstore on Tottenham Court Road. I walked out £11 lighter, having bought the IWM's official Italy book, by Fieldmarshal Lord Carver, but also two very interesting looking oral histories, one of the 2nd Norfolks (famous from the massacre at Le Paradis, and Kohima), and the 16th DLI, mostly about their service in Italy. Both of these went for £2.99, which is a pretty reasonable price, considering that Hart is the official oral historian of the IWM, so you would expect him to do his job well. His third book from the series 'To the last round', a history of the South Notts Hussars, the artillery regiment that engaged German tanks at Knightsbridge over open sights and got destroyed in the process, unfortunately was not there. I am considering getting that for a lot more money elsewhere. Heat of Battle - 16th DLI At the sharp end - 2nd Norfolks To the last round - South Notts Hussars Edited because I am too stoopid to tell the DWR from the DLI. [ September 16, 2003, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

Wandering around the wasteland that is central London yesterday, I not only did my Japanese beer-shopping, but also fell into a budget bookstore on Tottenham Court Road. I walked out £11 lighter, having bought the IWM's official Italy book, by Fieldmarshal Lord Carver, but also two very interesting looking oral histories, one of the 2nd Norfolks (famous from the massacre at Le Paradis, and Kohima), and the 16th DLI, mostly about their service in Italy. Both of these went for £2.99, which is a pretty reasonable price, considering that Hart is the official oral historian of the IWM, so you would expect him to do his job well. His third book from the series 'To the last round', a history of the South Notts Hussars, the artillery regiment that engaged German tanks at Knightsbridge over open sights and got destroyed in the process, unfortunately was not there. I am considering getting that for a lot more money elsewhere. Heat of Battle - 16th DLI At the sharp end - 2nd Norfolks To the last round - South Notts Hussars Edited because I can not tell the DWR from the DLI. Feh. [ September 16, 2003, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

Good, interesting thread. One book I have not seen mentioned (maybe overlooked it) is from the Marshall fairy-tale, oops, historical Wehrmacht debriefing project, by Luftwaffe General Paul Deichmann Spearhead for the Blitzkrieg. It is a decent read, short and quite informative. Been a while I read it though. Bottomline to him was that the Luftwaffe was wasted in direct support of the Army, when it should have become a strategic weapon. Obviously he had read his Douhet, and keenly observed what the RAF/USAAF were doing to the German industry and cities while his flyboys were doing low-level bombing runs from the HE177 trying to stop the Soviet ground offensives.

I think it is the way they encode their files before sending.