Andreas

You could always try emailing Mr. Niehorster directly, I would have thought. All the best Andreas

You do understand that the monument the website you linked to talks about and the war cemetary at Maleme have zero to do with each other in terms of who set them up and who is responsible for caring for them? And that the 'Bund Deutscher Fallschirmjäger' is a private association? Because from your posts it appears to me that you are maybe mixing things up a bit. All the best Andreas

It is a small place near Teatro Marcello, at the entrance to the Ghetto of Rome. The plague commemorates the first deportation of Jews from Rome, and I believe they were assembled on this place on 16 October 1943. If I understand it correctly this first deportation consisted of 2,090 persons. I passed there regularly last year, since our wedding list was kept in a shop set up in the small old church overlooking the Piazza. All the best Andreas

Bears repeating. Well said Evzone. All the best Andreas

There's the official cemetary which is cared for by the first parachute division, and you don't get more official than that in caring for german war cemetaries. So what's your point exactly? Maybe you did just feel like making a smart yet pointless remark without having understood my whole post? Maybe you just like to quote out of context to show off how great you are? Maybe I need to spell out my point in one-syllable words to make sure you understand it? So many questions... All the best Andreas

There were still 30-40 50L42 armed IIIs in 12. PD which was scheduled to go in on the northern shoulder, but then sent to deal with the Orel offensive (Kutuzov). Outdated models present in Zitadelle: P II: 73 P 38(t): 10 P III (kurz): 83 P IV (kurz): 50 StuG III (kurz): 11 P III (7,5cm): 132 Also 41 Flammenwerferpanzer III 101 Panzerbefehlswagen III Numbers are from Töppel, he quotes OKH, Panzerlage, BA-MA RH 10/60 as source. All the best Andreas

Colossus Reborn won't cover Bagration, it ends in 1943. If you mean the Sharp books, they are good, but again not teaching you anything about Bagration. Dunn is good (although he has been taken to task over his Kursk book), but may well be pricey. I know my copy was. For cheap initial go with Zaloga. Follow it with Hinze. All the best Andreas

I can't get particularly upset about this. I also see no reason why any 'official' German institution should become involved (as is insinuated on the website linked above). The Volksbund works on a not-for-profit basis, and the 1st Parachute Division has adopted the Maleme war cemetary. Anything beyond that is private pleasure. Good luck to them in getting the monument re-erected, but even if they fail, it is not as if there is no memory to the fallen left on Crete. All the best Andreas

But it's worth it. He covers to July 4th. For later dates, you need to buy Hintze. All the best Andreas

Another point regarding this - you have to distinguish between the 50+30 80mm armour plate on the improved models, and the one-piece 80mm armour plate on the later models. The former would probably not last very long under serious fire onto the frontal armour. It would crack and be shot away. CMBB does not model armour degradation over time, so this is a modeling problem that benefits the Germans. The latter however should resist just like Tiger side-plate over time. I.e. it should be capable of absorbing numerous hits without failing, presuming that it was ordinary or better quality stuff. Later in the war is a different story. I think the stuff they lacked is called Molybdenum, but that may not have been the only thing missing. I agree with Jason's notes on AFV selection, and I can only recommend that any scenario designer reading them implements them as well. All the best Andreas

Mehr Licht? My guess is that it was probably never tested, since the assumption was that there would be no problem. There were plenty of more important problems to deal with than the AP performance of exceedingly rare vehicles that were presumed to work the same as their non-captured brethren. All the best Andreas

We have long since settled our differences. Perfectly good spelling of KV for a German, BTW. All the best Andreas

Regarding manuals and their bearing on reality. If I understand the Tigerfibel correctly, it states that the 1943 T34 could penetrate Tiger sides from 1,500 metres. So much for German manuals and their relationship to actual gun performance. The Soviets have this charming manual on how to fight fascist tanks with the ATR. That is also full of interesting advice, the realism of which I would question. I fully do agree however that Stug fronts are overmodelled against 85mm rounds. What is your view on the Soviet report posted in the locked thread, about 76mm failing against 80mm plate at 200m? All the best Andreas

Quite so on the cupola point Jason, and apologies for my error. Something I completely overlooked last night was that the kills were all front turret penetrations. The Soviet 76mm fails at 350m against German t34 frontal armour except the turret. At best it achieves partial penetrations, but these are rare. The German 76mm against Soviet t34 has no problems at all. Regarding the experience, I checked now. Soviet regular rifle squad in 1943 has the same delays as a German squad if it is in command (14 secs). But when it is out of command it moves up to 31 secs, while the German gets 21 secs. A veteran Soviet rifle squad out of command gets 21 secs (like German regular), and when in command gets 10 secs, like the German veteran. This is with a scenario, not a QB. All the best Andreas

Zalgiris 1410 - if cheap & cheerful introduction is what you are looking for I recommend Zaloga. If he had not written his book, I'd go with your line of thinking on Adair. All the best Andreas

Thanks for digging through the manual BTW. I'll check this in-game later today. It could be that the old memory is playing tricks on me again, so disregard all I said until I get back to you. All the best Andreas

Anyone who designs a scenario based on the pricing system designs a scenario not worth playing. You may refer to this 'The First Law of Scenario Design by Andreas' if you want to. All the best Andreas

Up to sometime in 1944, Soviet units of any experience level are treated the same as German units of the next lower experience level. This was a game design decision by the game designers. It's in the manual somewhere. I.e. if you buy Soviet regulars, they perform as Green, etc.pp. This will affect your test results if both sides have ammo. Non sequitur I am afraid. And contrary to the post by that Russian chap in the locked thread, where it states that in 1943, 76mm AP shattered at 200m against Tiger side armour. Most tanks at Kursk were not Tigers. Actual Tiger TWOs were quite low, AFAIK, so this would argue against the ability of the 76mm to do much serious damage. It would still be able to cause minor damage (equivalent to gun hits in CMBB) that render the Tiger hors de combat for the specific battle, or a few days. So I think you can not draw the conclusion from Kursk that the 76mm worked against Tiger side armour at 4-500m, especially when Soviet test reports say it did not. Stugs etc. could be defeated through the side armour. I hope the above accomplishes that. I would however like to say that I agree with you on the matter of differential penetration between the German and the Soviet T34. They should have equal penetration, and neither of them should be able to get through Tiger side and Stug frontal armour at anything but very short ranges, with normal AP. Again, I feel the game undermodels the 76mm here, by making this point-blank, or indeed no penetration, when it should be 100-150m. All the best Andreas

That is an additional problem if Stephan has tested before summer 1944 and used identical quality, since the Soviets are given a step down. For obvious reasons it doesn't matter with my methodology. All the best Andreas

I did not say you did Stephan, and I do not remember that I have ever seen you say so. But the last line in your previous post indicated to me that you thought everybody who complained ran a risk of being labeled an uninformed crank. That reading of your line led to my reply. Let's move on. Now, the only way you can test this is by not giving ammo to one side. Otherwise crew quality and optics come in. As I just found, in terms of raw penetration the Soviet T34 has no issues I could find at a distance of 350-400m. I'd re-run it if the result was not so obvious. They have clear issues hitting at 750-780m, compared to the Germans. But not at the shorter distance if they are left alone, i.e. no return fire. But I would expect a cupola to make a significant difference, even at short distances. Also, in at least some cases the Germans installed additional optical devices for the gunlayer, as pointed out above. No idea of the German T34 models this. All the best Andreas

Just ran my tests, and I can confidently state that what Stephan tested was the effect of the cupola. Test setup is a shooting range. One side has no main gun ammo. Eight lanes, tanks are blocked from maneuvering by being placed in rough terrain. 1st test - Germans with ammo distance 740-780m. Result is slaughter. All Soviet T34 are penetrated over the whole frontal arc. Occasional partial penetrations. At the end of turn one, all Soviet tanks are gone. 2nd test - same distance, Soviets with ammo. German tanks are not penetrated either upper or lower hull, except for rare partial penetrations. By turn three the Soviet gunners appear to aim for the turret, and now it is quick - within a turn and a half the German tanks are gone. 3rd test - 3-400m, Soviet tanks have ammo. Slaughter, all German tanks are gone by the end of turn one. Conclusion: Soviet ammo in T34 is significantly weaker than German ammo in T34. This stops to make a difference somewhere between 750 and 400m. Beyond 750m, only take on the Germans in a hull-down duel. Further testing could find the sweet spot, but I can't be bothered. In terms of Stephan's results, the determining factor must have been crew quality and optics. If at shorter distances the Soviets get slaughtered it has nothing to do with ammo quality (see above), but with target acquisition, and maybe crew quality. Am I right Stephan? All the best Andreas

Zaloga on Bagration is a very good start, the other I don't know. Dunn is good. Don't bother too much with Adair. Ziemke is a must-read. All the best Andreas

It's when you move on from the observation to claim pro-German bias that you are called a crank Stephan. How did you test this? Did both sides have ammo in your test scenario? All the best Andreas

The question is, how many wounded have we had? The numbers appear to be being concealed, which follows a trend. I wonder what public reaction would be if the true cost of our commitments was made known. </font>

Niepold, Battle for White Russia (known as Mittlere Ostfront 1944 in German). For straightforward accounts on the German side, Hintze's two books (no idea about the title in English), but only if you manage to ignore the 'The German Landser was so well-loved by the population in Russia' bull**** in the introduction. From the Soviet side, Glantz edited translation of the STAVKA study 'Belorussia 1944'. All the best Andreas