Kingfish

Thank you all for the info and links, especially the Fire and Fury site. A couple of Questions: Exactly what role did the Churchill equipped regiments play in the ETO? I know about the specialty units, such as the funnies, but what about the regular armored regiments such as the 107th. Were they a carry over from the 'I' tank brigades from earlier in the war? Why were they the only tank regiments in the 21st army group not equipped with Fireflys (not counting recce)?

I need to know what was the OOB of the British 107th RAC during August '44. I've read accounts that say they were equipped with Churchills, probably Mark VII and VIIIs, but is that all? Were Fireflys also included in the mix? Any others?

British Sherman II = U.S. M4A1 British Sherman IIA = U.S. M4A1(76) Commonwealth Sherman III = U.S. M4A2 Commonwealth Sherman V = U.S. M4A3 Commonwealth Stuart V = U.S. M5A1 Stuart British Wolverine = U.S. M10 TD The 'C' designation is for the Firefly variant.

Hosszupalyi has been tweaked based on feedback received from the tourney. Depending on which side you played, you may or may not notice a difference. For instance, the German OOB was only slightly beefed up, but the Russians have a whole new look. Hopefully this will create an entirely new scenario, and one with a new set of challenges for both sides. One other change worth noting is that an extra 10 turns have been added to the scenario, and is now at 35 turns fixed.

Sgt Rekkm, I'll need your e-mail address in order to send it to you. Your profile does not list it. E-mail me directly at sc112565@aol.com and I'll send it your way.

The date: August 16th, 1944 The place: The city of Falaise The opposing forces: Elements of the 2nd Canadian Infantry vs remnants of the 12th SS Panzer. 3000+ point Allied attack vs 1900+ point German defense - 45 turns long. I'm looking for several playtesters to evaluate this scenario. It is best played against another human, with the more experienced player taking the Germans. E-mail me if you are interested. Thank you

You should rename this thread 'SPs (in open terrain, on clear day and against the A.I.)-enemy of the Volksturm'

That's right, the sixth and final scenario, or in this case Op, of the Kursk Pack is now availible. Later on tonight it will be added to the Kursk Pack which you can d/l complete from here. However, if you already have the other 5 scenarios and only want 'Tank Warning' you can e-mail me directly and I will zip it to you. Enjoy!

...and in the beleaguered 3 Brigade area the 1 KSLI successfully intercepted a party of Germans escorting 100 British prisoners Sometimes the good guys win too

Hehe, why do I get the feeling we are talking about two different things here? First off, I will agree with you 101% that Lucas should have advanced farther with the first wave. At the very least he should have secured the hills astride route 7, so as to prevent observation of the invasion beaches. Land the remainder of Brit 1st div and push to Campeleone, while the US 3rd goes for Cisterna, all within the first two days. Then hunker down and await the US 45th and 1st armored to continue on to Route 6. So far so good. What I do not agree with is that Lucas should have pushed as far as Route 6 with the force he had at the time, and that is exactly what Alexander was calling for. I do not believe he was adequetely equipped for such a deep thrust, regardless of whether or not there were any Germans. This is what I've been arguing all along.

A couple of interesting quotes from this site The assault plan assumed the possibility of initial heavy resistance on the beaches, and the certainty of heavy counterattacks once the enemy was fully aware of the extent of the landing. Consequently, VI Corps held out a strong reserve and placed great emphasis on digging in early at initial objectives to repel armored counterattacks. The bulk of the 1 Division, with the 46 Royal Tank Regiment, the 24 Field Regiment, and the So Medium Regiment attached, was to remain on shipboard as a floating reserve. Farther down the page it states: By 24 January the 3d Division had occupied the right sector of the initial beachhead along the Mussolini Canal. The 504th Parachute Infantry held the right flank along the main canal; in the center the 15th Infantry, and on its left the 30th Infantry, faced Cisterna along the west branch. Ranger Force relieved all but the 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry, on the division left in the quiet central beachhead sector. Meanwhile the 2 Brigade of the 1 Division, under the command of Brig. E. E. J. Moore, rounded out its sector of the beachhead by advancing to the Moletta River line. The remainder of the division was held in Corps reserve in anticipation of an enemy counterattack. In two days VI Corps had secured a beachhead seven miles deep against only scattered opposition. Thats a sizeable chunk of the British contingent. No doubt that had an effect on the drive to Campeleone. One thing it does point out, VI Corp anticipated a strong German response within days of the landing, and was focused more on defending than exploiting. Overly cautious? Maybe, but according to Allied intelligence: From the latest intelligence available on enemy troops in the Rome area, Army G-2 estimated that VI Corps could expect an initial D Day resistance from one division assigned to coast watching' four parachute battalions from Rome, a tank and an antitank battalion, and miscellaneous coast defense personnel, totaling 14,300 men. By D plus 1, another division, an SS infantry regiment from north of Rome, a regimental combat team from XIV Panzer Corps reserve, and perhaps elements of the Hermann Goering Panzer Division could arrive. By D plus 2 or 3 the enemy might have appreciated that the Allies had weakened the Eighth Army front; if so, he could bring the 26th Panzer Division from that sector to produce a total build-up of 31,000 men.

I've always been curious as to why there are so many different kinds of Helmets, especially within the German armed forces in WW2, when in reality they all perform the same function. Is quick battlefield identification of friend / foe a goal for helmet design? Here is a pic of a M42 German helmet. I am assuming that the protruding lip running along the front is there to offer some protection to the face from enemy fire and the elements, but what about the back? Is the lower edge designed to protect the ears and back of the neck? If so, why was it not included in the Fallschrimjager helmet? Would those features be a liablility during combat jumps?

But one big difference between Cobra and Shingle was that Cobra was launched with sufficient forces to achieve the objectives. Not so for Shingle. Again, a force of 2 reinforced divisions is sufficient to hold the beachhead, but not to exploit beyond it in strength. Just MHO. I have no doubt that several FDs running around in the rear area would have caused some panic in the German high command, but here's the $64,000 question: would that be enough to force the Germans to quit the Gustav line? IMO, I don't think so. At least not without a strong response by the Germans to try and restore the situation, and that response would have been too much for a couple of FDs to withstand by themselves.

Sure, here is the formula: "f(x) = ax2 + bx + c" or "y = ax2 + bx + c." Seriously, I did not rely on any mathimatical means, but instead relied on my own fuzzy and slowly diminishing memory. IOW, I read that somewhere. I could be wrong. Just curious, how did you get the 1 mile advance = 3 miles of perimeter?

True, but we have the luxury of 20/20 hindsight. While the Allied high command anticipated (correctly) that the landings would catch the Germans by surprise, they also anticipated that the Germans would react swiftly to the threat in their rear. Unfortunately, the ability of the Allies to bring in sufficient reinforcements were hampered by the lack of adequate shipping (see JonS's post). They were able to land two reinforced divisions in the first wave, sufficient to hold the beachhead, but it would take another 3 days before the next batch of reinforcements were to arrive. By then the Germans had elements of 8 divisions deployed around Anzio, with more to come. Combined arms forward detachements as in Battalion size? Brigade size? From where would these detachements come from? What would be their objectives, and who would guard the beachhead and the LOCs? Keep in mind that with each mile of advance, 7 miles is added to the perimeter. IMO, to 'cook the goose' of the 10th army the VI corp needed to interdict not only route 7, but route 6 as well. That is an avance of +20 miles beyond the beaches, too far for the initial landing force.

The decision by Lucas not to advance turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. Had he pushed on, his force would have been chopped to pieces. Think of what happened to the Rangers at Cisterna only 10 times worse.

Remember Comrades, Stop - Drop - and Roll!

For those still interested in playing scenarios for CMBO, I offer the first in a series of three scenarios depicting the battle between the U.S. 6th armored (the ‘Super Sixth’) and German 266th infantry division. These battles occurred on August 9th / 10th, 1944 just north of the city of Brest. The scenarios are semi-historical, in that the dates, units involved and general map layouts are based on historical data, but the tactical situations and map details are fictional. A little background: On August 7th, 1944, CCB of the U.S. 6th armored division arrived at the outskirts of the port city of Brest, capping off a 6-day / 150-mile dash across the Brittany peninsula. Along the way they had bypassed several German units, which were unable to offer more than token resistance to the American spearheads. One of these units was the German 266th infantry division, which soon began to slowly retreat towards Brest. Meanwhile, the U.S. 6th armored’s initial attempts at entering Brest were repulsed, so it began preparations for a full-scale attack on the city, scheduled to go off on August 9th. However, that all changed, for on the evening of the 8th the German 266th infantry suddenly emerged in the rear of the Americans. Faced with this serious threat to its rear area, the U.S. 6th executed a highly unusual 180-degree ‘About Face’ and attacked northwards. The result of this action was a series of fierce battles around the villages of Plouvien, Kerdalaes and Lannenyen. Map courtesy of the ‘Super Sixth’ website About Face #1 depicts the battle for Plouvien, About Face #2 will deal with the battles for Bourg-Blanc and Kerdalaes and About Face #3 will depict the fight for Besquelan and Lannenyan. To learn more about this battle, and the U.S. 6th armored division in general, I suggest you stop by their excellent website: The Super Sixth Thank you [ August 29, 2003, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: Kingfish ]

The Stalingrad Pack should be hitting your in-box right about........now.

Last time we chatted you had half the state of Michigan in your waiting room, and you considered the walk between examination rooms as time off from work. Drop me a line!

According to this site the pic is of the 563rd independent tank battalion, which participated in operation 'Uzhnaya Ozereyka'. I do know that the Stuart was used in the Caucasus, both in the failed amphib landings at Ozereyka as well as the defense of Nalchik in Oct '42.

Obg. Hansel was originally part of a 5 tank platoon, but yesterday's battle claimed two, and they haven't received any replacements. On the way to hill 189 his number three suffered a breakdown, and they had to proceed without him. Finally, they were within sight of the hill when suddenly an IL-2 screamed down and planted a 500lb bomb squarely atop his number 4. Now, all alone, Obg. Hansel reaches hill 189 just as the CMBB scenario begins.

Here is info on the most feared army in the world, the Cohors Helvetica Rumor has it even the Finns flee in panic when encountering them

The new Boots and Tracks site Click on 'our most recent battles'. Should be halfway down. Enjoy, and let us know what you think of it.