Kingfish

Here are a couple of interesting excerpts of other battles near Vire at or around 8/6/44 The first describes a battle on 8/8/44 in the Brit sector The actions for which Fey won his German cross in Gold are recounted in detail here and are typical of the type of material presented by individual SS tank commanders in the book. By the beginning of August 1944 the German lines in Normandy were crumbling. On 8 August as Allied forces crept towards Vire, west of Falaise, Willi Fey as an SS-Unterscharführer from the 1st Company of sSSPzAbt 102, launched an attack, supported by the 1./Pioneer Btn 600 under Oberleutnant GAUL, on a column of 15 Shermans and gun carriers from the 23rd Hussars/11th Armoured Division, sighted approaching down the valley from the direction of the hamlet of Houssemagne. Opening fire at a distance of 600 metres, 4 Shermans are rapidly put out of action. Feys Tiger «134» is disabled by a number of hits. Kommandeur Pz. Ab 102 Obersturmbannführer Weiß orders Fey to blow up his Tiger. Fey continues firing at the Shermans accounting for 14 off them in a 30 minute action. His Tiger is towed back to German lines later that night. Weiß recommends Fey for the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold following this action and the award is presented by General II Panzerkorps Bittrich on 15 September 1944... The second is a military print of the Jagdpanther's debut in Normandy The Jagdpanther was considered by many to have been the most potent anti-tank weapon of the war, combining the armoured lines of the Panther tank and awesome power of the 88mm gun. This was probably first demonstrated during the British advance through the Caumont Gap during "Operation Bluecoat" when the Jagdpanthers of Heavy Tank Battalion 654 engaged the Churchills of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. A squadron of Churchills covering Point 226 suddenly started exploding one after another. Breaking cover from the "Bois du Homme" 2 Jagdpanthers covered by a third proceeded to pick off more of the British tanks only retreating when they came under fire. Although the 2 Jagdpanthers had to be abandoned due to track damage, they managed to destroy 14 of the Scots Guards tanks in an engagement which lasted only 2 minutes! August must have been a bad month for allied tankers

Mechanical failure / Mines accounted for the vast majority of the Panther losses in Kursk.

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From the CMBB forum: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=009529

I can't be sure of the one in front, but the one in back looks like a Valentine Mark VIII or IX. I based that on the position of the gun in relation to the turret front. Here are some good pics of a Mark IX Valentine. Note how low the 6pdr sits in relation to the turret front. Now compare that with the earlier version Mark III armed with the 2pdr. That gun is located in the center of the turret front.

12th Army Group maps Scrolling over to August 6th and zooming in I see the Brit 11th and Guards Armored located to the NE of Vire, US 2nd inf to the north, and US 28th and 29th inf to the NW. The US 2nd Armd is also there behind the latter two Inf divs, but not sure if it is in a support role or being held as an exploitation force. The Germans include 352nd and 363rd Inf, what looks like 3rd FJ and possibly some elements of 9th SS Panzer. 10th SS Panzer looks to be held in reserve. I also see the 2nd and 116th Panzer to the SW, but IIRC they were moving west in preparation for the Mortain counterattack. That should get you started Edit: Nevermind, I should have read your intital post more carefully. I thought you were talking about a battle near the town of Vire, when you really meant somewhere near the Vire river. My goof. [ February 25, 2004, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: Kingfish ]

Yes this site shows that they entered combat around Vire on 4 August. So far stiil no accompanying units or any identification of the American forces. Not to mention no maps. Panther Commander </font>

Given the time and location mentioned I would start looking for info on Operation Bluecoat.

I would hope, given all that you have done for us, that those who do win the wine would chose option #2, as this is by far the most economical way to ship it. I can only speak for myself, but if I was playing in the tourney (and you surrender monkeys should feel blessed I'm not) I would gladly pony up the custom fee. If I'm near one of the 37 airports, great. If not, I'd offer it as a gift to someone who is.

I would hope, given all that you have done for us, that those who do win the wine would chose option #2, as this is by far the most economical way to ship it. I can only speak for myself, but if I was playing in the tourney (and you surrender monkeys should feel blessed I'm not) I would gladly pony up the custom fee. If I'm near one of the 37 airports, great. If not, I'd offer it as a gift to someone who is.

I would hope, given all that you have done for us, that those who do win the wine would chose option #2, as this is by far the most economical way to ship it. I can only speak for myself, but if I was playing in the tourney (and you surrender monkeys should feel blessed I'm not) I would gladly pony up the custom fee. If I'm near one of the 37 airports, great. If not, I'd offer it as a gift to someone who is.

http://www.wssob.com/102abtssp.html This link says they were.... As I pointed out in my email, Steve, I think that Steel Inferno might have some info on them? </font>

Not sure how common it was, but I wouldn't see anything wrong with an HQ unit having one on hand in case of emergency, such as the one you described. Keep in mind that the Panzerfaust also works resonably well against infantry.

Use 'Move to contact', and add enough delay so that your tank begins moving 50 seconds into the turn. If it spots an enemy it will stop to engage, and 99% of the time it will do so from a hull down position. When the next turn begins you can issue a reverse command, and often times the delay in that is around 5 seconds, the same as the shoot and scoot. The one advantage to this, besides the automatic hull down, is that you decide if your tank is to stay in the fight. If it encounters a superior enemy, or more than one, then reverse him down. But if he kills the enemy, or catches him in a vunerable position, then you can keep him in, all the while firing from a hull down position.

While the action described is impressive, it is not limited to only Pioneer units. Any German squad armed with a Grenade bundle could achieve the same results.

John Kettler, Check your e-mail. Reply sent, now go out and hand that allied lovin' Reichmann his head on a silver platter! Michael Dorosh / Flammenwerfer, I did not receive the results from your game. Please e-mail it to me. G1/S1, Thanks for the response with regards to Elmar. The commo problems he is having is not his fault, and it is still early in the tourney, so lets cut him some slack for a bit. G2/S2, Same thing with regards to JPS. Kanonier Reichmann, The assignments were totally random. I make a note to assign you the Syrians in ROW IX. Everyone, Please make sure you are sending your files to the correct person. Check, double check, and when you are sure it is correct, check again. Also, although no FOW sensitive info has been passed on, I need to stress the need for full FOW lockdown, be it here, another thread or in the e-mails you send. If you have FOW sensitive info to discuss e-mail me directly. So far I have received only one game result, that of Larsen / Nidan1 from G3/S4. Please do not assume your opponent has sent in the game results, you do it. I would rather get duplicate e-mails than none at all.

John Kettler, Check your e-mail. Reply sent, now go out and hand that allied lovin' Reichmann his head on a silver platter! Michael Dorosh / Flammenwerfer, I did not receive the results from your game. Please e-mail it to me. G1/S1, Thanks for the response with regards to Elmar. The commo problems he is having is not his fault, and it is still early in the tourney, so lets cut him some slack for a bit. G2/S2, Same thing with regards to JPS. Kanonier Reichmann, The assignments were totally random. I make a note to assign you the Syrians in ROW IX. Everyone, Please make sure you are sending your files to the correct person. Check, double check, and when you are sure it is correct, check again. Also, although no FOW sensitive info has been passed on, I need to stress the need for full FOW lockdown, be it here, another thread or in the e-mails you send. If you have FOW sensitive info to discuss e-mail me directly. So far I have received only one game result, that of Larsen / Nidan1 from G3/S4. Please do not assume your opponent has sent in the game results, you do it. I would rather get duplicate e-mails than none at all.

John Kettler, Check your e-mail. Reply sent, now go out and hand that allied lovin' Reichmann his head on a silver platter! Michael Dorosh / Flammenwerfer, I did not receive the results from your game. Please e-mail it to me. G1/S1, Thanks for the response with regards to Elmar. The commo problems he is having is not his fault, and it is still early in the tourney, so lets cut him some slack for a bit. G2/S2, Same thing with regards to JPS. Kanonier Reichmann, The assignments were totally random. I make a note to assign you the Syrians in ROW IX. Everyone, Please make sure you are sending your files to the correct person. Check, double check, and when you are sure it is correct, check again. Also, although no FOW sensitive info has been passed on, I need to stress the need for full FOW lockdown, be it here, another thread or in the e-mails you send. If you have FOW sensitive info to discuss e-mail me directly. So far I have received only one game result, that of Larsen / Nidan1 from G3/S4. Please do not assume your opponent has sent in the game results, you do it. I would rather get duplicate e-mails than none at all.

JPS informed me that he would be offline for the first two weeks or so of the tourney, but promised that he would get all his games done before the 120 day deadline. I was sure he had e-mailed his section opponents as well.

JPS informed me that he would be offline for the first two weeks or so of the tourney, but promised that he would get all his games done before the 120 day deadline. I was sure he had e-mailed his section opponents as well.

JPS informed me that he would be offline for the first two weeks or so of the tourney, but promised that he would get all his games done before the 120 day deadline. I was sure he had e-mailed his section opponents as well.

Elmar Bijlisma, A couple of your section 1 opponents have not heard from you. Please e-mail Steve McClaire (steve.mcclaire@verizon.net) and Andrew Kulin (andrewkulin@rogers.com) asap. Thanks

Elmar Bijlisma, A couple of your section 1 opponents have not heard from you. Please e-mail Steve McClaire (steve.mcclaire@verizon.net) and Andrew Kulin (andrewkulin@rogers.com) asap. Thanks

Elmar Bijlisma, A couple of your section 1 opponents have not heard from you. Please e-mail Steve McClaire (steve.mcclaire@verizon.net) and Andrew Kulin (andrewkulin@rogers.com) asap. Thanks

Group 1 / Section 3, Has anyone heard from or exchanged files with Overkill (martinoc@adelphia.net)? Did he respond to the comm check prior to the start of the tourney?