Grisha

In Zaloga's Red Army Handbook, he cites some losses and ratios for tanks in the chapter on tanks. Unfortunately, while the data is very interesting Zaloga didn't bother to divulge his sources. Then again, since he has had access to Soviet archives Zaloga may have computed them himself from a number of German/Soviet primary source material.

To Fionn & Warren: Many thanks for the AAR! Educational, to say the least

I can read Russian. The trouble is, my PC can't. Can anyone give me a hint as to how to get the stupid thing to show Cyrillic properly? All the best, John.</font>

Soviet casualties were the result of a number of things:</font> German tactical excellence.</font> Initial poor Soviet tactical leadership.</font> Initial poor Soviet training.</font> Initial poor Soviet command & control.</font> Too few responsive indirect artillery.</font> No mid-war tank equal to the Tiger or Panther.</font>A lot of this is modelled into CMBB. Delay times alone will result in the Germans staying ahead of the Soviets' decision loop tactically. Add poor experience levels to early Soviet troops and it just gets worse. Soviet tanks early in the war will have to be in place before engaging the enemy effectively, or else surprise them enough to temporarily curb the German decision loop advantage. I can see early war scenarios turning into a Soviet massacre, if the Germans manage to hit them where they aren't expected. While this may apply to most troops for the early war Soviets it will be a catastrophe. Also, the severe delays on Soviet orders will demand that the Soviet player 'cut corners', which in turn will cost more lives. Bear in mind that the Soviets lost as many in the first 6 months of the war as they did in all of 1942. By mid-war the Soviet loss ratio had shrank from 6-7:1, to 4:1, a reduction by a factor of 1.5 times. By the last 5 months of the war the Soviet loss ratio was, I think, under 2:1.

dragoon, Further up the thread, Kwazydog has already responded on behalf of BFC, saying that fullgame playback will not make CMBB, though it will be given serious consideration when they do the engine rewrite.

A grog here, so I'm very glad to hear that the game itself was given priority rather than chrome. Full game playback while very nice to review, is certainly not essential for accurate or intuitive gameplay. As it is, the turn-based playbacks are more than enough. And, in fact, by having playbacks on a turn by turn basis, the ability to learn from them is greater, since it allows for better indexing. It would've been a severe blow to CMBB, the wargame, if something like the covered arc command had been dropped in favor of full game playback. All the best, BFC

Michael, If you are determined to get this book might I suggest trying abe books (www.abebooks.com)? Just type 'Hitler's Legions' in the title search, and you should find a number of bookstores that are selling them. I found a few, including a 1st edition.

Ace, I honestly don't know, but your speculation on determining command radius (or more crucially, in/out of command status) by unbutton/button status at the beginning of an orders phase would seem the simplest solution. In any case, we'll find out soon enough I guess

Ace, I think I see what you're saying. Could two tanks(command and subordinate tanks) who began buttoned, go unbuttoned, give the subordinate tank an order, then have both tanks button up before hitting the 'GO' button. Good question.

For the Soviet side, most anything by Glantz or Erickson will be accurate and devoid of postwar myths. Also, check out Frank Cass publishers. Glantz is their editor in chief for much of the Soviet military material there as well. A word of warning though: be prepared for academic level text. The good news is that these books will not only show you the Soviet-German War, they will teach you how the Soviets won it on the battlefield - a lot of relatively new material here that clears away many of the myths. For the German side, anything by Ziemke or Seaton is well worth reading.

Very nicely done, BFC!

Many thanks, Gary! Greatly appreciated

Worker and Peasant Red Army, RKKA, Soviets. Smert' ili Pobeda. Konechno [ July 14, 2002, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: Grisha ]

There were quite a few Polish units within the Red Army, including two whole Armies. If you want a more comprehensive OOB, I can post that later (after work).

http://www.skazka.no/anthems/ Btw, for mpga files, after d/l just change the extension from .mpga to .mp3. That simple.

<sigh> I know, shameless, but I had to try ...

http://www.stalingrad-info.com/songs.htm

Would sure love to see a sneak peek

Within the Red Army artillery was used to 'clear' minefields, but anything smaller than 122mm was deemed ineffective and 152mm or larger was preferred. Still, it wasn't considered totally effective and engineer assets were necessary nonetheless. [ July 08, 2002, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: Grisha ]

If/when this company gets their catalogue finished, or a website up, please let us know. Thanks

Deception, simulation, disinformation was a normal part of Soviet military operations from 1943 on. Fake vehicles or installations, diversionary marches and operations, clandestine night marches under strict night discipline, radio discipline combined with bogus radio networks, fake artillery registration. It encompassed all levels of Soviet military art, from the tactical through the operational to the strategic. In Glantz' book on Soviet military deception in WWII he covers more than 40 military operations which used extensive deception. The fact is deception (and intelligence/reconnaissance) was as important - and effective - to the Soviets in WWII as command control & versatility was to Germany/USA/UK. [ June 28, 2002, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: Grisha ]

Yes, I'm here in Moscow, and watched an old movie on the defense of Brest-Litovsk. There was much laying of flowers at WWII monuments here today. The Great Patriotic War is still very alive in the Russian collective mind.

Enfilade fire?

Glad to hear about CMMC II! Regarding the river map, might I suggest the idea for two maps? One for the southern steppes, and another for the more forested and boggy north? If you need assistance, I have quite a few copies of WWII/pre-WWII Soviet topographic maps. [ June 06, 2002, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: Grisha ]

Are there people out there planning for CMBB ladders and major operational campaigns? I'd be very interested to know.