Hans

Seanachai Thank you for your review of my comments on the alleged pool. As you didn't reply in Breton you are beneath my notice - however had you replied in Breton I wouldn't have been able to read it and considered you a poser. Remember the important words of some dead Greek guy "Self importance is only meaningful to those lacking it" My Benito Mussolini have mercy on your soul

PanzerBlitz must ask you about your name? Generic or for the Avalon Hill game? And yes I have a real reason for asking!

Think Monty Python meets the Young Ones in a seedy balkan bar in a city being put to the sword by fundamentalist Huns........... or look at the Peng thread like choking a rattlesnake to death with you d**k, you can do it but will you really enjoy yourself?

I've noticed that when the Romanians switch sides in 44 they lose all of their air support. May I enquirer on the reasoning/rationale for that?

Hi I'm looking a map or diagram of the battle that took place at University city, Madrid in November 1936. Cannot find this on the net. Does anyone have a book source for this? TIA

August 1942 during the battle of Isbuscenskij. There was some debate about the date of other charges also

I had previous posted a short version of this story. This is the full story - translated into military miniatures language however - Interesting tale. Comes from the Italian Military newsgroup 1)- NAME: the correct name of the battle should be Isbuschenskij. It’s sometimes reported in English sources as Chebotarevsky (I guess that the correct spelling should be Tscherbotarewskij, but with Russians names ... who knows!) but that location was actualy 6kms south of the batterfield, and was the location of the Italian HQ in that sector. Strange how both the references in English I have found use this name, that I have never found in any Italian source. 2)- OOB: the russians were the 812th Fusiliers Rgt. (guess that it was a Siberian unit, and it proved to be a very combattive one). The CD2 TO&E for the Italian Cavalry Rgt. shoud be slightly corrected, as follows: - The MG Squadron (5th Squadron) did not carry its MGs on carts. The MMGs and their ammos were carried on pack horses, so it should be better to give them 4 x"MMG Cavalry Stands" (must dismount to fire). - The AT battery was attached only later in the year. - Each Squadron was organized either on 4 platoons (30 men each), or on 3 platoons, (39 men each ). This latter organization was implemented during the war, but I do not have any definitive source on how the Savoia was organized at the moment of the batlle. In both cases each Squadron should be *possibly* better represented by 3 x Cavalry Stands instead of 2. 3)- THE BATTLE: the russian Rgt. had approached during the night to a short distance in front of the Italian lines, where it waited in "light entrenchments" to start an attack . Their position was quite concealed from view by the very high grass present in the zone, and by several folds of the ground. At dawn pickets of the Savoia noticed the presence of the enemy forces, and the commander of the "Savoia Cavalleria" Rgt., Col. Bettoni, ordered an immediate charge. The formation of the Rgt was, at the moment, on two lines (first line – left to right - 4th and 3rd Squadrons : second line - left to right 1st, 5th and 2nd Squadrons). The 5th Squadron (MG Squadron) moved forward, dismounted, and "fixed" with its fire the front line of the Russians., while the 2nd Squadron started to move in a large circle to the right , apparently away from the Russians, in coloumn of platoons. But as soon as it had gained a slightly advanced position it performed a quick left wheel by platoons, and charged with good elan in the middle of the Russian formation in line formation, crossing all their position diagonaly, accompained by a section of MMG of the 5th Squadron that, having found no time to dismount, charged swords in hand with the rest. Having reached the back of the Russian lines, the Squadron quickly reformed and charged back along the same line. Albeit utterly surprised and haevy disrupted by the quickness and violence of the charge, the Russians reacted immediatelly and very creditably, moving forward against the Italian main position with decision while severly engaging the now hard pressed 2nd Squadron. To extricate the 2nd Squadron and break the impetus of the Russian advance Col.Bettoni launched the dismounted 4th Squadron in a frontal "dismounted charge" (cavalry slang!) that managed to stall for a few moment the Russian assault. At this critical point the 3rd Squadron was launched in a mounted charge too, diagonaly like the 2nd, while the dismounted 1st Squadron started a turning movement on the left flank. A vicious hand-to-hand fighting followed, until the Russians broke the field. As proof of the bitterness of the fight and the remarkable "pluck" of both sides the losses of the Savoia were 39 KIA and 79 WIA (about 20% of the engaged force), while the Russians reportedly lost about 150 KIA and about 900 prisoners (over 300 of them WIA), plus 4x76mm field guns, 10x82mm mortars and about 50x MGs. Immediately after the end of the fighting, the chivalrous Col.Bettoni ordered a mounted "march past" of the Squadrons on the battlefield with lowered swords, "in honour off all the fallen on the field of honour". 3)- "COLOUR" NOTES: - Colonel Count Alessandro Bettoni di Cazzago, later decorated with the Military order of Savoy, the highest Italian military award, was one of the most famous obstacle-jump horseman in Europe: in the 10 years before WWII he took part to 237 jump-contests winning a staggering 699 prizes. He was also a fervent monarchist, and when in 1946 the monarchy was abolished in Italy he "purloined" the old and battle-strained Royal Flag of the Regiment, and took it to the exiled king in Portugal. For that he was court-martialed, reduced in rank and "dishonourably discharged" from the Army. - Another distinghuished horseman of the Savoia Cavalleria Rgt was Cpt.Abba, that (IIRC!) won a silver medal at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 (cross-country horse race, again IIRC). - For You 20mm gamers, note that the Italian Mod.1871 sabres were burnished (black-plated), but a good number of troopers used "liberated" polished steel cossak M-1935 "saska"s, that were much appreciated for their razor-sharp blades and for their resistance to icy weather. All the mounted part of the battle of Isbuschenskij was fought with sabres and hand-grenades. - Again for You 20mm gamers (or the VERY skilled 1/300 ones!) the "Savoia Cavalleria" was the only rgt. of the Italian cavalry to wear red neck-ties (in memory of a Savoia trooper that allegedly reported to the Duke of Savoy the new of a Piedmontese victory at the battle of Torino - 1706, War of the Spanish Succession - managing to say just "Savoie, bonne nouvelles!" - Savoy, good news! - before his death for a ghastly and red-blooding wound to the neck. His last words has been inscribed on the crest of the Regiment since then). It was also custom of the Italian cavalry to always wear the parade-dress white gloves before the charges, but as Isbuschenskij was a rather "surprise" engagement, I doubt that they managed to find the time to honour this tradition in this battle. - Actually Isbuschenskij was not the last charge of the Italian cavalry in WWII. This (dubious) honour goes to the now disbanded "Cavaleggeri di Alessandria" Rgt. at Poloij in Croazia, on October 17th 1942, when the whole rgt performed a desperate night charge to break through the encirclement of a well entrenched Communist partisans "brigade". The charge was successfull, but with shattering losses and, due to the very broken ground and the nature of the night engagement, without the tactical finesse displayed by the Savoia at Isbuschenskij. Actualy the Savoia performed the charge almost "by the book", following the 1931 Cavalry Regulation, that is: 1)- Frontal engagement of the enemy by dismounted fire-action 2)- Mounted manouver against a flank of the enemy. 3)- Support of the mounted action by dismounted action. 4)- Exploitation of success by further mounted manouver. The phases were to be enacted by separate Squadrons, "feeded" in the battle at intervals so that the Rgt. could always count on available tactical reserves. I apologize for the lenghty description of the battle, but it is such a nice example of "modern" cavalry tactics that I guess it could be of good interest for the more "exoteric" minded gamers. I also faintly remember to have seen a booklet by the Italian Army Historical Office about the charge, but in case it ought to be an early post-war work, long out of print. AFAIK there is not much else of "technical" published about this small battle. But I would suggest all the same "Isbuscenskij - L'Ultima Carica" by Lucio Lami, published by Mursia, ISBN 8842522511. The title is quite misleading, as the book is not really about the charge itself (less than 20 pages about that!) but about the whole campaign of the Savoia Cavalleria Rgt in Russia. It's not even terribly well detailed on the purely "technical-military" aspect, but it's a magnificent rendering of the "feeling" of this proud and ancient regiment in war, in its day-to-day common small stories. If You are interested in gaining a not-bombastic, not-derogatory impression of the italian soldiers in war this book is well worth a reading. IMHO, of course. This post by Arturo F.Lorioli Via Cipro 47 00136 Roma (Italy) e-Mail: arturo@lorioli.it

Kanonier ...mainly full of surrender terms....no actually Italian military history has some high points-but it does look a little pale versus the likes of the Germans and English. I believe the Italians like to think that in the last two world wars they didn't do well but they did better than the French and were on the winning side in both!

Try a scenario made for CMBO called Tactics 2- has 21,000 points I believe, the max out for both sides.

Some time ago mention was made of the Italian cavalry charge in Russia. While discussing that on a listserve devoted to Italian military history the following note was made... ........ already summarized the circumstances and development of the Isbuscenskij charge, the memory of this battle as "the last cavalry charge" is not correct. 54 days later, on October 17th, 1942, many miles west of Isbuscenskij, the Italian 14th Cavalry Regiment, Alessandria Cavalrymen, trapped in a valley near the village of Poloj, Croatia, launched a night charge through 3 consecutive Yugoslav partisan lines blocking their way to safety. They succeeded, though not without the loss of 68 dead, 61 wounded and 170 horses. An accompanying artillery battery had 12 dead and one wounded, the Regiment's light tanks squadron 2 dead and 2 wounded, and a Blackshirt infantry battalion joining the desperate fight had several casualties as well. Yugoslav losses are unknown but they must have been high.

The computer seems to select the flag no matter what I select in the parameters, ie automatic or attacker. Any advice, sympathy?

For Mr.Spkr That would be advanced real time, ie 1 minute of real time equals 1 second on your computer-plus the powerups would be invisable and and any time you lost you'd have to reboot..... and for added realism Pee Wee and the other zany characters would shout random verbal clips from Kung Fu movies. actually congrats to victors

Ah too much success will ruin you guys....may I suggest (for your future happiness) that you publish a complete failure of a game? - to tone down your luck karma. I would suggest the game title, "Pee Wee Herman and the hunt for the pink bunny suit". After that critical and commercial disaster you can go back, chasten, to CM3.

Even a more generic aid to both player and designer would be useful, ie Foolhardy, aggressive, normal, defensive, run for the hills, type of catagory would be useful.

Even a more generic aid to both player and designer would be useful, ie Foolhardy, aggressive, normal, defensive, run for the hills, type of catagory would be useful.

The problem with them and the excellent talonsoft line was they were limited to specific battles. I think most Nappy fans want a strategic element that would evolve into cm style combat. When I first saw CMBO and the QB generator I thought of napoleonic battles!

The need for a player implaced tank ditch has never been met. However you can try some of these two rock walls with soft ground in between soft ground with two trenches side by side=more of a slower but tanks do get stuck if they try to go thru (sometimes!) obstacles or rubble, rough terrain etc. I always thought a trench modified into a tank ditch by selecting an opinion would be best. Oh well something to look forward to in CM3

I've had this same difficulty and found the only way around it was to select them then use the keyboard P or O (or what ever) then it works fine. No keyboard short cut for lock and unlock unfortunately

oh yes When I was first introduced to CMBO I had a few days with it and then (unfortunately) I had to go on a two week vacation....to France. One of the weirdest feelings I ever had was when we drove into a small French village and I had an overwhelming feeling of Deja Vu and misgivings. It was only later that I realized the village looked like one I'd had a tough (level 1) tank vs infantry fight in CMBO...chilling.

Thanks FK Unfortunately a clever player would move up pioneers to clear it. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope that in CM3 we'll have damaged bridges and perhaps another European oddity, footbridges.

conscript Italians.....I must challenge you to a duel you (slap) paltroon. I mean green Italians yes, but conscripts? Never I would never suly a QB battlefield with such trash.

Was just looking at a possible scenario but it needs a damaged bridge that is passable only to dismounted troops. So there is a suggestion. Hey engineer grogs in European Russia what type of load bearing bridges did they have? How many typical bridges could withstand a 35 ton tank? Should there be more than one type of bridge in the CM3?

Was just looking at a possible scenario but it needs a damaged bridge that is passable only to dismounted troops. So there is a suggestion. Hey engineer grogs in European Russia what type of load bearing bridges did they have? How many typical bridges could withstand a 35 ton tank? Should there be more than one type of bridge in the CM3?

Hello Tigrii Normally you'd be right but in this case I'm converting the old PanzerBlitz situations into CM so the PZ hexes are the one I was speaking about getting converted. However you are right to point out my transgression against the god of CM. For penance I will fight green Italian L3 and CV-33 against Veteran KV-1s! after I have been properly humbled I'm sure Charles will forgive me. Adios

As I thought, most annoying. Thanks looks like those streams I had on my maps are now becoming rocky ravines.