dieseltaylor

Isn't that political ? : )

Guardian 19th April http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html

BTW Magpie, welcome to the forums. Don't take it personally. There have been a lot bigger/meaner threads than this. I have learned a little on Monash so it has not been wasted, and you have met some of the regulars. : ) Now that story of the M12 killing a Panther/Tiger in the Ardennes ...

I thought this was faintly amusing. It makes me wonder. Taxable revenue source and a diminishing in crime on the upside. Downsides? Psychotic dangers - possibly alleviated by a better procesing. Difficult to say it is worse than alcohol as a drug.

Hoolaman - : ) Seriously having a grill situated at eye level was infinitely more easy to use than one where you has to bend to keep an eye on the toasting progress. You can get them as a separate piece of kit: http://www.kitchensolutions.co.uk/parry-electric-salamander-grill-1872-supplied-with-branding-plate-and-wall-brackets.html Funnily enough my timer on the Dualit is now playing up - I should have never taken it apart on Monday - but I can still buy the timer : )

Rather nice. : )

I have to admit to being slightly surprised that an M12 was allowed out by itself in the Ardennes. Rather vulnerable to all manner of enemy action, and travelling with a shell up the spout. I am not sure what practice was for large SP's but it does seem a dangerous practice. I will see if I can find anything about it. Also you would have thought that the Panther would have fired its MG's at the M12 crew immediately, especially given the turret mounted gun would be assumed to lay target first. I am not saying it could not happen it just seems unlikely. I would believe that an unmanned Panther/Tiger had its turret blown off to demonstrate how butch an M12 was : ) And also that some leg-pulling went on also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toaster Now I have an interest in toasters : ) They are almost ubiquitous in UK households particularly since the loss of eye-level grills. I wondered whether they were common elsewhere. My interest has been sparked as our UK Consumer Association , Which?, has just done a survey and recommended best buys. The interesting part was the claim that on average toasters last about three years, expensive ones last slightly longer - apparently 6 months longer. 70% fail because the elements go. I found the article rather annoying as my toaster is eighteen years old and I have replaced the elements twice. So does the consumer advice mention replacing elements? NO. not a whisper. Am I being unreasonable in expecting a Consumer Association to give me the full guff? BTW it is a Dualit and they say their elements fit all their toasters made over the last 50 years. [except the new lite model]. The reason I bought one in the first place was in my works canteen they had a 26 year old model.

Monty also kicked ass on the Sicily landings getting it into some sort of order. Probabbly very unlikeable but he did seem fairly bright on some things.

Oh yes, Brens on AA mounts : ) http://thegunner.net/khxc/index1.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=bren_tripod

I had not forgotten : ) My most easterly sponsored player. I have even invested in a teach yourself statistcs book, and a CD, but researching WW2 info or nine other different things seem to intervene. Currently two bathrooms being fitted and a crusade against sloppy journalism at Which?. I think a thread required on that.

Sivodsi, I am not an statistics wallah though I do have a great interest in them. Would the WeBoB records be of any use to play with. There have been a number of tournaments and the database has also includes several scenarios which have been multiplayed. Not recorded in BoBster are some AI scenarios with multiple plays. There is also a BoBster ranking which has been running some years and appears to give the right results as to who the good and mediocre are [me]. It is hosted by Green As Jade and he is a good egg : )

For leadership I did actually qualify it to divisional. I have no problems with people talking all over the shop but it really makes life easier if we know what scale their "leadership" is being judged against. I think another one in the frame at divisional level could well be Percy Hobart who was not only a stickler for training but also gifted in seeing what was needed hence the 79th Armoured Division , the largest armoured division - probably ever : ) Army commanders - I am not sure if that is always genuine leadership or more PR. I make a distinction between actual decisions made , and the persona radiated to those under his command. However it is a huge subject and there are the likes of Wavell., Sitwell, etc who have not yet started the race : ) Anyway here is an academics way of looking at it - for the US: http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/wade2/wade2.asp

Somewhat wasted I am afraid Sailor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster

Very true.

Affy - Baldrick none of this fancy Baldric stuff. Given the US seemed badly to misjudge what would happen when the Iraqui administration was disbanded, apparently had no plan for after success, failed to find any WMD, and any proof beforehand, it does strike me as entirely possible that ID'ing of enemy camps was either expedient or faulty. I am not suggesting that the GI's were involved in anything shady. What I do find bizarre is why Texas plates seemed important. Stolen cars from the UK drive around Albania even now on UK plates. As for the invasion - if you look at what the UK has been uncovering for reasons to go for war it appears Bair was/is a dupe or simply duplicitous. He lied to his Cabinet and he lied to Parliament. There was doctoring of everything to make it look like we had to go and invade. The hounding to death of an UK Iraqui expert who spoke out about it secretly to the BBC. A man who has amassed a £15million fortune after leaving office. Hmmm. Those speaking tours are so lucrative. A fine example of self-interest.

LLF - it has the WOT green marker. And if it is providing genuine resource I do not take a name as being a turn-off. Normal Dude thanks for the info. No biggie in the scheme of things. I have visions that most of the III Flak AA would be positioned for guarding strategically important targets know to the Allies. Having an AA gun in the front line might actually draw attention to itself by firing and annoy the fighter-bombers or the artillery boys. The problem of supplying the odd AA gun must also be a concern. I think the formal AA batteries were clumped together for supply and for mass fire effect. But I am guessing. At most the battlefield is 4kms deep so the swooping fighter will be in and out in roughly 4 seconds so I am not sure that any on battlefield AA would be that much use in stopping delivery. And of course effective range for 20mm and 37mm is not that great , with the 20mm topping out at 2200metres. Details of the 37mm are here . I have to admit to surprise at seeing how late they commenced the Flak 43 and how few were built. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3.7_cm_FlaK_43 Still I will see if I can find anything on mobile AA usage as opposed to the motorised III Flak Corps moving their kit into Normandy and their fighting record. I imagine in theory each PZ Divison would have some tracked AA but I suspect not a lot and enemy planes taking a great care to wipe them.

In total, III Flak Corps entered combat in Normandy with 27 heavy batteries, 26 light batteries and some 12,000 men. - Wikipedia. http://www.nazi.org.uk/military%20pdfs5/Flak%20German%20AntiAircraft%20Defenses%20-%201914-1945%20.pdf Page 175 shows how they got chewed up.

Is there anymore detail on this?

With the air force cover and the huge number of 0.50" calibre HMG's I am not sure a great need for the US. troops : ) Perhaps destined for the expansions.

On a helpful note - I hope- I do wonder that given there are no beach maps that would it be simpler to start with that bit already accomplished? Start on day two. Only a thought.

Interesting stuff Womble : I see the point we may for a moment or two wonder what we are doing, justify it as the corrct action, and pull the bomb release. Animals do or don't without any intervening thought. I wonder if dolphins etc are exceptions? AB - Due to the heat on the gangs in Mexico they have moved south to the smaller weaker countries. Guatamala ' rate is 46 per 100K, which is twice as high as Mexico and nearly ten times greater than the US. Honduras and El Salvador are more violent still with rates over 60 homicides per 100,000. If the foetus has rights then we had better look into prosecuting those who injure it whilst in the womb. That is by poor diet, drinking , smoking etc. There is what is ideal and what is actual practical in the society in which we live. If the idea is to force back-street abortions by making it painful to go the legit route fair enough. But I suspect going to another state will suit the rich folk. It does seem a trifle rich that we are prepared to maltreat mammals for meat and fun but we can get our knickers in a twist over a foetus because it is a potential human. I suppose this is a fundamental point we cannot expect to agree on. I think a human is merely a mammal with a slightly more developed brain, whereas there are some wh like to think we are some divinely chosen species. I am afraid science tends to support the likeness to other animals rather than any divine intervention. Regarding Iraq. There are plenty of rulers who are a danger to their own people so why Iraq and not the others? Oil? One up on Daddy? And what is so galling is that Saddam was anti-fudamentalism. Incidentally one might argue that Bush was a danger to his own people by becoming involved in an external war not relevant to stamping on AlQ

http://www.webandofbrothers.de/ Which despite the address is primarily American. Though not by much over Uk , Australasians, and the EU. A few outliers like Ecudaor etc.. : ) WeboB is not a ladder club its rather more relaxed than that. It does have a sponsorship system to hopefully weed out those who drop games or forget to post for the odd week or two without explanation! There are other clubs. [who can post for themselves] : ) I am happy to sponsor players.

Noob - I have been around since 2001 and in that time I have seen several campaign proposals burst apart, and some actually start and die, and I think of very few which have actually had legs. Onion Wars being the only one still running and which I was briefly in. From my perspective you have Tillers map which is a bonus. However you are only a 116 poster in seven years here which does not show much obvious commitment to CM. This is a minus. The reasons most campaigns breakdown are RL & battle fatigue. With three prime positions in your plan what chances two will fall by the wayside. I did read your proposal but with I think 35 battles and a convoluted turn structure that seems bad. The good news is you have a genuine target to aim for in ST Lo and presumably a historic time line as a guide, possible cut-off point. However whilst CM:bn is new all wise people will want to get the game system under their belt before embarking on something where they are playing for a team - which makes for added pressure not to screw up. I think that running campaigns is mostly attractive when handled within a club where resource and club pride make it a safer bet that it will actually go the distance. And you have a pool of reinforcements : ) Don't take it personally - you may ,for all I know, have a history of running Napoleonic campaigns which would change the situation considerably : )

Corps not so hot divisional fine. Somewhere or other I have come acroos good things about him. Just to have locate them. Like his motto : ) New Zeal and Honour