Vergeltungswaffe

Take some time to think about what you just wished for please, for your own sake.

Doctrine is doctrine - but if you want to get into it...
If you look past the tactical vignette the dilemma is the same as it has been for ages; however, how it is delivered is different.  Those "recce dudes" now have eyes in the sky that stretch for kms in all directions and are linked to quick response (and pretty accurate) indirect fire.  So the Russian forces can either stay dispersed and hidden - and have their combat power dislocated and/or static.  Or they concentrate that combat power to manoeuvre, get spotted at much longer ranges and get hammered - Finding beats flanking.
Do that in enough locations across the Russian positions (and indications are that is exactly what the UA was doing - this account sounds very familiar), and now they can because "eyes", and you have attrition across the Russian system, which can (and perhaps did) cause collapse.  It is a form of attrition-to-manoeuvre, as opposed to the other way around, which we have been slavishly adhering to like a religion for years.
Infiltration - even if by UAVs - and attrition is not a "mere nuisance", over time it erodes the physical and moral elements of combat power (upscale it and you can strain the social as well).  Which means more rotations of units to and from the front, which leads to more friction.  
The only way out of the box appears to concentrate your mass to such a ridiculous extent that you overcome the artillery through sheer bloody-mindedness - a Zap Brannigan strategy if there ever was one.  It will gain you a few kms of ground on a narrow front but you will pay dearly for it.  The force ratios the Russian are having to employ to do this are crazy - e.g. Severodonetsk - 900 guns to cover a 30 km frontage is just insane...and that got them to inching.  The old MRD had, by my count, about 216 tubes and was expected to cover off 20 kms ( see: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-3.pdf, pg 4-39, and: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf, pg 5-19).  Even with a second MRD in depth, that is about double the gun density for frontage being employed compared to what the Soviets had planned on to invade West Germany. 
So What?  Well if that is what it takes to create enough mass to attack in a box while staying secure from those "nuisances", then I would say that the combined arms tactics being described are pretty damned effective.

Really enjoyed this.
Nothing like hearing it from the horse's mouth.

Pretty sure that's just an excuse to invade other countries and steal stuff. No asshole ever wants to admit that he's an asshole, while acting just like one.
This "under siege mentality" argument doesn't work anymore after putin basically proclaimed himself the new emperor and that all wars he started are the wars of "returning our land". It's not like anyone in Russia ever thought about their immediate neighbors differently before. Everyone and everything was always 'theirs'.

Wouldn't matter if he loved it with all his heart or despised it. These guns are going nowhere but to other law enforcement agencies or the scrapyard. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/20/miami-police-ukraine-gun-buyback-weapons/?fbclid=IwAR368lKOZxZ-EpOl83zETX2bSLKRpFOw02XmOcmierrQOuKcGaxPDJge3Rs
 

It's a dumb idea bound to fail, both because these so-called buyback programs usually net just old crap that nobody wants any more, and there's no way for Miami to actually transfer them to Ukraine. 

Personally I'm all for private firearms ownership and I own more than a few firearms myself. But hey, if someone wants to voluntarily hand over firearms that would be given to the Ukrainian military during a time of need I'm all for it.

Hi folks
Here is a great splash background from rocketman for Black Sea.
Be sure to get it downloaded. 
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-black-sea/cmbs-other/cmbs-splash-background/
 

Hello All:
I am presently working on my final scenario in my series "The 82nd in Normandy". This past week I completed "DeGlopper's Medal of Honor" and "Le Motey" (pronounced moh-tay). The former is single player and the latter H2H. They will be posted when I complete the Amfreville scenario. The reason for the delay is that I will have to repost many of my previous scenarios in  the series because they had to be renumbered to place the DeGlopper scenario in the correct sequence. I also reviewed all of the text files to correct spelling, grammar and numbering errors.
I am posting this because I am seeking assistance gathering information for my final  scenario. It is clear that the second attack towards Amfreville was conducted by 2/357, 90th Inf. Div during the afternoon of the 10th after the 1/357th's failed attempt in the morning, it is not clear if they had armor support.  It is known from the PIR's reports that American armor crossed the  La  Fiere causeway about an hour after the infantry assault. However the  few notes I have found from the 90th's after-action reports make no mention of armor support.
Does anyone have any sources that can help me out?
The problem is similar on the German side. I can find no information to clarify if the Germans moved up any A/Tk guns or if there was any German armor on the ground , like as StuG III's.
Thank you in advance if you have any 'reliable' details.
 

Another excellent primer from The Cap.

There isn't a scenario with that name, it's just that most CM players associate Tiger with the WWII German tank, not the modern day Russian Tigr.

Yes but, how does this relate to Ukraine? 😂 Couldn't help myself.
Anyways, fantastic writeup as usual! I'm sure many heads will pop at the performance here.
I am also curious at the scoring for this mission. I recall there was some kind of bugged scoring with this mission but was under the impression that it had been fixed. @Bil Hardenberger any idea what could be going on here?

Within the time constraints of any given battle, PBEM, or otherwise, I am unbelievably slow and methodical with all the recon I can manage.
The old adage works well: never send a team anywhere a scout hasn't been. Never send a squad anywhere a team hasn't been. Never send a platoon anywhere a squad hasn't been and never send vehicles anywhere infantry hasn't been.

Considering Russia supplies and supports Islamic terrorist organizations all around the world incl. Hezbollah and Taliban - you may be very very wrong about their actions towards ISIS.
In fact had Russia not "intervene" in Syria - that would've been a stable country in just months, probably a moderately negotiable one like Qatar or Kuwait with ISIS getting a good beating instead of using the chaos and suffering Russia has caused to get in there and use Syrians towards their goals.
Assad was nearly done and the guys beating him weren't ideological.

Another writeup for those of you who can pry yourselves from the Ukraine thread. This time, the topic is mission planning, specifically how to do it in relation to Combat Mission scenarios. 
The basic idea is:
Planning Framework for Combat Mission
The workflow for planning how to play a scenario in Combat Mission can be broken into four parts and are done in order. They are:
     1.      Receive OPORD/WARNO/FRAGO
     2.      METT-TC
     3.      OKOCA
     4.      Enemy Course of Action (ECOA)
Read along for the full breakdown and explanation! https://millerswargamingvault.blogspot.com/2022/06/introduction-planning-is-critical-to.html 
Feel free to discuss. Just remember that this is a very complicated subject if you decide to get really into the details. There are entire doctrinal publications covering each one of these topics. This is a more general overview meant to be easily digestible in a single sitting, as as such some nuance is lost.
Fair warning for my fellow rock bangers, there are no pictures in this entry besides the cover image.

Every 2nd bullet and almost all supply trucks were US-made. Try winning the war without bullets or literally no trucks to deliver them with. Heck you can even say every 2nd soviet tank past 1943 existed thanks to US because it was made of metals US provided with the factory tools US provided, resources USSR didn't have.
The whole turning point happened exactly because of lend-lease. USSR was retreating pants down because they lost most of their military potential in a failed "we gotta attack Germany first" plan. That "one rifle per three men" propaganda wasn't far off from reality after that epic fail of giving most your stuff to Germany to tractor away.
And yes - without overabundance of NLAWs and Javelins Ukrainian army would've had extremely harder time defending in the immediate days of the full scale invasion. And yes - we have almost no 152mm shells left - which is the reason frontline is so static because there's not enough western arty and ammo to replace that - YET. Without US/EU support frontlines may have been drawn in a very different place on the map.

Pretty much, yes. It is well understood that Russian incompetence was burning up men at a great rate of knots and that the provision of all those western manufactured goods through Lend Lease allowed the Soviets to comb men out of factories and off farms to be fed into the meat grinder ... lots of men. Even so, Soviet incompetence traded lives for ground and byt  1944 they were conscripting 17 year olds, and in early 45 they were conscritinmg 16 year olds ...
Every pound of Spam feeding the Red Army meant fewer farm labourers, every pair of boots provided to Red Army soldiers meant fewer tanners, cobblers and the like. Every pound of explosives or explosive precursors meant fewer chemical and munitions factory workers. And all those warm bodies were fed into the Red Army meat grinder to become ex-warm bodies as soon as the marginally competent leaders could manage it.
As for the T-34, fair design but a crap tank as constructed. And how many of them would have been able tro be manufactured by the Locomotive factories that were converted to Tank production because the allies provided all the Locomotives the Soviets needed during the war (IIRC the Soviets produced less than a dozen between 1942-45).
The Soviets noted they preferred US, Canadian and, yes, even British Tanks over their own because the Lend Lease ones were reliable (and they loved Bren Gun Carriers for recon units). Heck, their breakthrough Armies were limited in number by the number of M3/M5 Halftracks the Allies provided since the Russians built none of their own.
Sure, the Soviets played a part in winning the war, and the Allies most certainly would have had a much harder time if they had collapsed, but they still would have won with nuclear mushroom clouds over German cities in late 1945 without the Soviets.
 

During WW2 even that supposedly mighty russian empire (USSR) had to rely almost entirely on USA and its lend-lease to not get steamrolled into oblivion by Germany, people seem to forget that. Not in small part due to a good old russian tradition of killing everyone intelligent enough to actually wipe their ass and leaving the rest.

Metallurgy is at least as important as caliber.
I'll be interested to see the real penetration data for the 130mm (probably won't be anything solid for several years) vs the the M829A4 120mm.

Loading screens for Combat Mission Black Sea. (the pic above shows only some examples out of over 200)
Attention: rar is 182 MB - unpacked .brz file is 474 MB !!!
Content: War in Ukraine/Donbas/Novorossiya 2014-2022
-> https://www.mediafire.com/file/hf7kkglyaq3x6b2/CMBS+sawomi+Force+Backgrounds.rar/file
Download, unpack and put the .brz in your ...mods/Z folder
------
I also made similar mod for Combat Mission Cold War :
 

also uploaded at The CM Mod Warehouse:
-> https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-black-sea/cmbs-other/cmbs-loading-screens/

Incredible.
Haiduk's in for a hell of a surprise when he gets back on his pc...
FUNDED!

$1500 to get him a new laptop. Amazing. Thank you, everyone who donated.
 

Wow, he was a member of a group of very impressive men.
There aren't many of their like today.
About time they got more recognition.
 

Thanks for the clarification.
I scanned it and it is safe to open, revealing 2 .btt files, First Day of the War and Tiger Hunt (which should probably have been Tigr Hunt so as not to sound like a CMRT battle).

Hey all,
I just wanted to bring attention to this.  My Grandfather was one of the 200 original Merrill's Marauders who made it out alive and walking on his own power.  He had both dysentery and malaria and was affected with PTSD his entire life.  He was one of that generation that did what they had to do, bore it and never talked about it after.  However, at the end of his life, he talked to me a ton and told me all his stories as he knew I was one who really appreciated it and wanted his knowledge and experiences to save them.
https://www.ausa.org/news/merrills-marauders-recognized-gold-medal?fbclid=IwAR0o4M6oXxhFzpBmpWbgMsAlBXGpPUAjs4ayrBKOjUhG7CX5HMiHKVZvpug
He was only a private, fought on Guadalcanal first and then volunteered for the "secret mission" that became the Marauder's campaign.  They were all heroes and deserve this and it makes me sad only two of them are left alive to receive the honor.  He spent 29 months in the Army during the war.
See my sig.  RIP Grampa.  
Here is a just released documentary about the unit and what they did if you are unaware or interested.  The 75th Ranger Regt. of today traces its lineage directly back to the Marauders.
https://video.kpbs.org/video/they-volunteered-for-this-merrills-marauders-Ty6ODM/?fbclid=IwAR0gx9DGIbIC04z_O63lFgU6Dpmb6g1FwAp7mm3-CQzMnAwRbfiVJpIRH_Y