ropey

I actually read the Dupuy book MANY years ago. His attempt was to statistically analyse the effectiveness of various formations in warfare. He analysed official stats (no, I can't be more specific about that - it was a LONG time ago.) for various formations - Allied/Axis, Arab/Israeli (even Union/Confederate if memory serves?) and tried to set a combat effectiveness rating. He modelled terrain and weather effects, and I believe logistical. He analysed many battles involving these same units, both attacking and defending, and found that with the model used if you factored out the terrain, weather etc, most (not all) German units appeared to perform better than Allied, and Israeli better than Arab. As always there's "lies, damned lies and statistics". Of course the analysis was open to much criticism, and if you don't accept his model for a start, his deductions may not impress. I remember finding the book while researching the military's use of wargames, probably because its statistical model was used as a basis for some games. Again, it was s long time ago so forgive me any frailty of memory. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

Thanks for the links. I'll try to get that book next time I'm in Chch (my home town.) Kanonier, there are major political battles going on over here regarding appropriate military spending. I agree that our Army needs to be significantly re-equipped, but you should see some of the dirty deals being done on Joe Publics behalf. But that's a whole can-o'-worms that doesn't belong here. 8-) ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I'd go for divorcing objects from the tiles. Wouldn't it be nice to pick a Bocage 'pen' and draw the line of bocage exactly where we wanted it? Or barbed wire, or high walls, or even building walls. First place your underlying terrain and elevations, then draw away. Aah, but dreams are free. Only 100 more barbed wires to place in my Cassino map... ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

The roadblocks might also be regarded as demolitions, and these were certainly not filled in the time of a CM scenario. (Bridged by a Scissors or Ark, or filled by fascine maybe, but not filled by shovel or bulldozer even.) If you COULD clear roadblocks/demolitions, my Cassino scenario could be much improved, as this was the task the engineers had during the attack against the Railway Station - fill 10 ruddy great holes in an embankment so hvy support could get through to help the infantry. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I captured a whole platoon of regulars in a recent game. They were flanked in 50m fog with a tank in my support, and over two or three turns they all waved the white flag. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

Well of course the dachsund only served in Africa and we're concerned with Italy where the boy scout troops were re-equipped with lapdogs. Some of these were converted in the field to a type of mongrel dog, part lapdog and part terrier. Again in '44 the boy scouts were given skirts and forced to entertain the troops. (A rather messy affair over which they are currently battling our DoD for compensation.) ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

So where should the Stuart sit on the TO&E? Div Cav had Staghounds, and the Recce Tp of at least 18 Regt was turretless Honeys (whatever they were nicknamed). Someone must have used the Stuart in its turretted form surely! ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

It probably wasn't the only fast little sucker in the parade. I've deliberately stuck to the Italian campaign TO&E because that's where my interest lies. Still need help on the armoured part though. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

So were they 'ad-hoc' units? Why are they in CM if that is the case? Or were they actually separate units available within a German division? If normal troops with extra weaponry, why higher squad sizes? So many questions... (Basically I want to know whether it would be realistic to have scenarios based in Italy with SG on the German side, and under what conditions.) ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

What units were classed as Sturmgruppen? Were there any in Italy? ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I have compiled a 2 NZEF TO&E on-line at mysite.xtra.co.nz\~Vader (case sensitive). I know there are some holes, particularly in the Armoured Regts, so feedback would be welcomed. I'll eventually get more photos scanned too, but if you have some already and they can be posted, please let me know. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

Thanks everyone - most informative. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

bump - anyone out there?

I have photos of the Kiwi tankers in Italy. The are driving a variety of models but the most common is one with a narrow gun mantlet. Can anyone tell me which version that is? And how does the naming system Sherman II, III, IIIc, etc match up to the M4 system? On a different note, the 9 M10 TDs of the Kiwi 2 Div were issued to the arty unit rather than the tank units - was that a common practice? ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

Is there an easy way to convert a non-compliant mod to compliant? Is it as simple as loading it into the Mod Maker, giving a description, etc, and then hitting Create Mod? Or could you create the info.txt file and just add it to the zip? ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

You might have more luck on the Italian front. The following - nominal - mountain divisions were used: 5th, 8th, 188th, 157th. The 5th was temporarily bolstered by units from the 71st ID in Jan '44, just north of Cassino, and worked closely with the 44th ID for the rest of the year. The 8th was in the line next to IDs late '44 to the war's end. Even so, there was unlikely to have been mixing of units on a CM scale. It is unlikely they had major armoured units in support because of the terrain they were holding. Nor did they ever have armoured units beside them in the line.

Thanks guys. I'll continue using the Brit TO&E

bump all were plotted on the same turn.

I plotted two Hetzers to move fast to some cover via two waypoints. Both paused at these waypoints for about 10 seconds, (one of which happened to be in LOS of the tank it was trying o flank. 8-( ) Is this normal? ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I've been using the Brit Bn TO&E but in my reading I don't see any reference to the PIATs or 2" mortars being organic to the Kiwi platoon. They may simply not be mentioned, but I'd like to know. Other points such as the availability of jeeps, universal carriers and other transport would also be valuable. Finally there is mention of Vickers MGs being provided from the 27 MG Bn rather than from Bn level support platoons. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

bump OK wrong area but I'll try again.

Does anyone have 2NZEF's Bn TO&E for the Italian campaign, or a reference thereto? I'm trying to create Cassino and San Michele scenarios but need this info... Thanks ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I had a StuG do the same in 1.05. I'll look up the file. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

On the other hand, if you are defending a position for real, surely you could prepare a fallback defensive position? The only way to do this in CM is the split squad way. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.

I believe Madmatt is checking one out at the moment. He'll post it to CMHQ if it passes muster. ------------------ Never leave your mind so open your brains fall out.