Gremlin

Check out British and American Tanks of World War Two by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis (Cassell & Co, 2000).

Regarding Hitler's family name, his father, Alois, at age 40 in 1876 "unoficially changed his surname to Hitler [from Schicklgruber]. So Hitler was Adolf's legal surname from birth [in 1889]...." I don't quite see how unofficial became official for the child, but I don't know 19th century Austrian law either (Quote from Dr. Bruce F. Pauley's Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century)

I agree that mines, and to a lesser extent wire, can be very worthwile, as long as you're willing to purchase them "in bulk." They're useful for channeling troops or slowing them in the face of incoming mortar and HMG fire. Place mines where you expect infantry to make a dash for cover: that way they're fare more likely to lose a couple guys per squad than if they're slowly strolling in. Also, cover victory flag areas that you're not directly defending with mines to offer a nasty surprise. (Most defenses can't cover all the flag areas suitably; you have to choose a few at first--don't unnecessarily thin your firepower out.) Wire is a bit more specialized than mines and less useful for the price. Use it mainly to channel troops into the fire lanes of your prepared defenses. It really comes into its own that way in city defenses, where you can block easy access to certain sides of buildings, forcing troops to run into the streets where you can mow them down with MG teams.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Are you attacking or defending Gremlin. Does it preform better when used on troops advancing or dug in defenders?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I was attacking and targeted near the victory flags, since I knew the AI would bunch troops in those locations. Naturally, they did have the advantages of foxholes and buildings, but those blasts are so huge (particularly the 300mm ones) that I can't imagine foxholes would help much (?). I'm sure the damage you could do would be increased on a small map and against troops advancing in the open or wooded areas toward you. Either way, accuracy with the rockets is so bad, it's a real gamble. Of course, you can buy tons of them on the cheap.

I just ran a couple tests with 3 regular 300mm rocket spotters and one regular 150mm rocket spotter, using up the maximum allowable arty points for a combined-arms force in a 2000-point attack, Germans attacking. Both attacks used the default QB terrain types, with the first against a town, the second against a village. 32 casualties and 2 vehicles knocked out in the town, 32 casualties and no vehicles (but a number of one-story buildings destroyed) in the village. Two tests aren't close to conclusive, obviously, but it looks like using rockets in a preparatory barrage in those circumstances may not be worth much. A heavily wooded map might be another story--those 300mm treebursts are scary Edit: ran the same test in an attack on a rural, heavily wooded area: 48 casualties, 2 vehicles KO'ed. In other words, little actual damage, but one heck of an impressive fireworks show. Ran that attack a second time with 10 150mm rocket FO's (again, the full arty points allotment): 47 casualties, one gun KO'ed. [ 07-20-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

To help make up for the extremely wide spread pattern, you can have multiple rocket FO's target the same exact spot to increase the explosion density a bit.

I'd like to second the recommendation of this book. Essential reading for anyone interested in ETO armored warfare, written by an expert who lived through it as a maintainance officer with the 3rd Armored Division. [ 07-19-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>SPG/SPA all the way IMO!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That's my preferred route too: I tend to distrust anything that's not fast and armored But, you have to admit, an ATG in an ME or attack can surprise the other player very easily since it's not done that frequently.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>and placed the puppchen hidden in a small patch of woods near my front lines.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> A perfect reminder that AT guns aren't just for defenders in attack/assault battles

alt + print screen (on a Windows machine), then open a paint program and use the paste command. [ 07-16-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

Another vote for keeping the site: it's the best CM site out there, and me saying that has nothing to do with the fact that Manx has posted some of my stuff. I've written a series of tactics guides for newer players (not grogs) for Combat Missions, and if it's those articles that some people don't like, I'd be happy to receive constructive criticism through Manx. These articles don't strive to be historical, scholarly treatises. While I'm personally very much interested in the "grog"-like minutiae of WWII weapon systems and tactics, many players aren't, and I try to help them get into the game and enjoy it more. CM can be intimidating to newer players, particularly those without a big store of knowledge on WWII weaponry.

A better thing to do is to use the Company and/or Battalion HQ units with individual guns, leaving the platoon HQ's with their respective units.

Good points. Don't totally neglect 81mm arty, though, particularly for the Americans, who get the most shells per FO. These are great for extensive smoke screens.

The Zimmerit plasticized paste was nitro-solvent based and included lots of sawdust. Its application to the Panther G, at least, was discontinued in September '44 to cut down on the time needed to apply it and let it dry (six days for the latter).

Hey Tenfive2, thanks (A new guide is up at http://www.combat-missions.net , btw.) What type of battle (ME, attack, defense, point size, terrain, nationalities) are you talking about? That makes all the difference. A lot will depend on your playing style too. Essentially, you want to maximize the benefits inherent in each nationality's units and create a solid combined arms force. So, in addition to the appropriate type of infantry (SMG squads for Germans on the defense, for instance), you'll want vehicles with lots of HE for dealing with infantry, vehicles or AT guns capable of dealing with enemy tanks (i.e., vehicles with long, high velocity guns and lots of AP rounds), mortars and MG teams for supression, sharpshooters for buttoning enemy tanks, portable AT teams for dealing with or springing surprises involving enemy armor, and always arty for smoke, suppression, and/or damage. Each nationality has its own specialties, to generalize horribly The Americans have lots of excellent infantry support vehicles (most Shermans, Priests, etc.) and fast but lightly armored vehicles that are good for flanking and surprise attacks on enemy AFV's. They have the best arty (fast response, high number of shells, VT shells available later in the war). They have big squads that can absorb damage, and they have the .50 HMG's which can pop HT's, armored cars, you name it, at medium ranges. Their later HT's with the .30 and .50 are good for doling out the damage once the tank threat has been handled. The Brits have the painfully slow but very heavily armored late Churchills that can shrug off most hits and provide powerful infantry support with big HE rounds, though their slow speed can make them a big liability, as they can be easily flanked and can't keep up with infantry. Their cheap Wasp flamethrower carriers are wonderful for assaults on wooded areas or towns, setting the whole place ablaze in no time, assuming infantry guard them from Panzerschrecks. The Brits have organic PIAT's and mortars in each platoon, and those are always useful (mortars for quick supression.) The Sherman VC Firefly is one of the best anti-tank tanks available to the Allies. It's not extremely well armored, but that long 17-pounder gun is a real killer. The Germans have a huge range of rather specialized units. SMG squads on defense; SS Motorized, Gebirgsjäger, Fallschirmjäger, motorized Panzergrenadiers, and Sturmgruppe squads are the most powerful all around, though naturally cost more. The Germans have many excellent tank hunters/destroyers, like the Hetzer, Panzer IV/70, Jagdpanther etc. These all suffer a problem common to turretless AFV's: relatively weak side armor and the inability to turn the gun quickly enough to deal with surprise flanking attacks. The Panther is probably the best all-around turreted tank; the StuG III G is probably the best all-around AFV for the Germans (can be used as both an assault gun and TD). The StuH is a fine infantry support vehicle. All the AA guns, particularly the Ostwind, are very useful against lighter vehicles or immobilizing or damaging the gun of heavier ones. They also have tons of ammo for continued infantry suppression, and can demolish buildings quickly. The Hummel is decent for infantry support with its 150mm gun, but has few rounds and is very lightly armored and open topped--quite a gamble. They have all kinds of very lightly armored HT's with big guns, mortars, flamethrowers, etc. too, which raise all kinds of tactical issues. You could discuss the German forces all day [ 07-13-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I haven't heard more about it, either. You may find this series of guides useful in the meanwhile: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

Also, when you locate a relatively weak portion of the enemy forces, hit them hard and fast with overwhelming firepower. Use strength against weakness to pick your enemy's forces apart.

Just keep this little formula in mind to get you started: locate, suppress, eliminate. Move infantry forward carefully, perhaps with one squad of a platoon leading while the other two and the HQ unit follow back a bit for cover ("overwatch"). Once you spot an enemy and identify what type of threat it is (infantry, tank, bunker, etc.), hit it with artillery, machine gun or mortar fire, and/or roll up a tank to blast them. These all injure the enemy, but just as importantly, they supress them, by forcing them to keep their heads down and not fire back. Then rush them (after you've stopped mortar or arty fire) with your infantry.

Some of these might be useful: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>OK - I'll bite. How do you destroy a tank without any anti-tank equipment? By this I mean no bundled grenades, no molotov cocktails, no magnetic mines, satchel charges, hollow-charge weapons, no crowbars or gas-cutting torches! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> German troops were encouraged to acquire or create devices like these if they weren't issued Panzerfausts or 'schrecks. They used AT rifle grenades, hollow charge flare/signal gun rounds, magnetic mines, home-made explosive charges, molotov cocktails (particularly against the engine air grilles on the rear of the tank), Blendkörper (glass-bodied grenades filled with noxious smoke that penetrated the crew compartments), standard smoke grenades, bundled hand grenades, gas cans with smoke grenades attached, and all kinds of home-made devices. See this for some possibilities.

Hi Splash, I just checked them, and they seem to load fine. If you're still having problems with them, please email the site's webmaster, Manx: manx@combat-missions.net

You may want to read this, a translation I did of a German field guide about close assaulting tanks, particularly on the Eastern Front. Infantry had quite a few options for AFV close assaults at their disposal, it would seem.

Bumped, in case anyone has any sites to add. Thanks.

I was doing some CM-related research recently, and thought I'd share some useful sites for documents relating to WWII. Some of these are online documents, others are available as books. Many are primary documents. I'd greatly appreciate any other links, particularly to primary documents (including those in German), army manuals, and so forth. Thanks. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/online/Bookshelves/WW2-List.htm http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/DL/chron.htm#AWorldWarII19391945 http://www-cgsc.army.mil/csi/PUBS/Pubs%20Intro.htm http://bookstore.gpo.gov/sb/sb-098.html http://www.hco.hagen.de/history/ http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/wwii.htm The following looks like a pretty good (German-language) site for tank info. Includes video clips (Sturmtiger firing, a 'Schreck taking out a Sherman, Dora and Karl firing, etc.), essays, data, etc. http://www.panzerlexikon.de/ [ 06-28-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

Glad you found those useful. With luck, I'll get around to writing more some day.