gunnergoz
-
Posts
2,933 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by gunnergoz
-
-
Once again, Dmitry Loza's book Fighting for the Soviet Motherland comes up with an intesting and applicable anecdote. What's more, it doesn't even involve NKVD units and makes clear that draconian measures were called from on occasion from line units.
Loza describes a situatation where his unit of lend-lease Matildas encountered Soviet infantry troops that had broken and were retreating towards Loza's tanks accross a big grassy field as Loza's tanks were moving forward to counter-attack.
Loza's superiors ordered his unit to stop the panic and possible collapse of nearby infantry units by firing at the retreating Soviet soldiers. Loza's people quickly compromised by firing their tank m.g.'s above and in front of the retreating panicked troops. At first the troops just dived to earth, then some stood up and tried to continue running away. The Matildas were again ordered to fire and this time the rounds hit several soldiers. This stopped the retreat and officers soon came forward to rally the surviving infantry back towards their defensive positions.
Loza attributes the success of the defensive battle to this hard choice that had to be made in order to prevent a total collapse of the forces involved. Perhaps not what we in the West might have done, but it was a decision that was apparently supported and understood by those Russians who were present. In that sense, firing upon friendly troops seems to have fulfilled a higher moral order prioritizing national over individual survival. It reflects the priorities of this culture at that particular time.
Messy, but effective. The question is, how could CM2 simulate such doctrine and events, which was apparently not an uncommon occurrence on the East Front battlefields?
-
I've seen our friend Blenhiem take to this nationality-bashing before in a different thread and then it was with the Italians. Unfortunately for him, perhaps, I happen to be BOTH American and Italian, so he crosses wires with me on both counts.
Blenheim, you seem quick to bring up the issue of nationality so perhaps your are sensitive about the topic; I don't know what kinks your pantyhose and I really don't care.
What I want you to consider is that the facts of global diplomacy force the USA, for better or worse, into the forefront of crisis situations. Often, we are invited but other times we have to take the initiative when others clearly are reluctant to.
In any event, like it or not, we will be there and our citizens at home are understandably sensitive to seeing their sons and daughters put into harms way. I'm quite sure that Spanish folk are no different from any others in this regard.
That's why it's so nice to wrap a couple of feet of M-1 Abrams Chobham around one's precious butt when one goes into a hostile environment. We want our soldiers protected and able to get the job done with minimum danger to themselves.
This is not an issue about who's army is best, but rather one about what is best for that army's people.
Es claro, amigo?
-
Originally posted by JunoReactor:
Ethiopia or Somalia?
...
Thanks, JunoReactor, brain fart, it was of course Somalia...just tired, I guess
-
What I'm waiting for is a nice hi-res jeep. C'mon, Tiger!
(And while you're at it, can you model one with a lowered windshield and mounting an anti-wire bar on the bumper?)
-
OOOOHHH, Kitty, lift your skirts again for us!
I can't wait, you little vixen.
-
You might want to read up on the US Army's dismal experience in Ethiopia, in particular Black Hawk Down is a chilling and in-your-face depiction of infantry combat in urban terrain as I've ever read.
Denied the use of a platoon of Abrams they'd requested by a SecDef who was himself thousands of miles from the scene, the US rangers had to depend upon "allied" armor to come rescue them, with the result that there were many more dead rangers than need have happened.
LAV's in that environment would have been eaten alive, which is what happened to the armored humvees and allied APC's that were present during the rescue.
I'm very, VERY worried about the wisdom (NOT!) of abandoning our heavy armor just to accomodate some civilian consultant's view of what future combat will entail.
What's worse is that the Army's own leaders have a disappointing propensity to make boners like this decision. Group-think and yes-man thinking at it's worse. Anyone see the emperor's new clothes?
The only thing worse than preparing to fight yesterday's war, is getting into tomorrows war while crippled by today's mistakes.
-
There's an interesting anecdote in one of the Battle of the Bulge books, perhaps MacDonalds, where I distinctly remember that an M-8 scout car literally rear-ended a King Tiger in the fog early in the offensive. As the M-8 driver was frantically backing away, the commander was pumping round after round of 37mm APC into the rear of the KT at point-blank, paint-chips-in-your-face range. Eventually one round penetrated the engine compartment and brewed the KT before the KT's turret could be brought to bear.
Whatta rush that had to be!
-
Not to sound like a broken record but once again I too must praise Dmitry Loza's book because it is a must read for those contemplating CM2.
I have a Soviet 14.5 complete round in my collection and it is nothing to sneeze at. It is considerably heavier and larger than the US .50 cal round that we all know, love and fear. It is an interesting contrast to the British Boys AT rifle round, .55 cal, which it seems to somehow dwarf also.
I cannot imagine the guts it would take to face a tank, however, especially one that is firing at you. These teams were also armed with AT grenades, so they were expected to close with, and finish, the enemy. Talk about huevos!
[This message has been edited by gunnergoz (edited 03-19-2001).]
-
Had to throw my two bits in on this one.
First, I'm fully in accord with the premise that SP artillery should not normally be present on the pointy end of the battlefield.
That being said, though, second consideration is that these things sometimes did happen and we'd want the ability to represent scenarios where arty assets were indeed present.
M-7 Priests were of course organic to the US armored divisions but don't overlook the fact that there were numerous battalions of non-organic corps level M-7 armored artillery in the ETO. While they commonly supported armored divisions and mechanized cavalry groups, this was not exclusively the case. The armored artillery battalions were real useful as quick-response artillery "fire brigades" in times of crisis and their ability to find good off-road firing sites (that would be denied their towen brethern) made them doubly welcome by all division commanders.
There is ample evidence of M-7's and the 155mm SP guns being used as "door knockers" as the need arose. When these situations came up, you can be darn sure that the offending enemy bunker had been thorougly suppressed because the SP guns were highly vulnerable.
Although slightly off topic, I recall an instance in Korea when the US Army, at considerable effort, brought one of these WW2-era 155mm SP pieces high up on a mountain peak position for use in a nuisance role as a kind of "super sniper rifle." The gun drove the Communists off all the adjoining hills and peaks that were within direct sighting range. POW's reported that this one gun really pissed off the NKPA and ChiComs because they were now on the cold, sunless reverse slopes of those positions!
Finally, I've seen some evidence of veterans by mistake or failed memory referring to the Sherman 105's as "M-7's." From the viewpoint of a tanker, it might make a little sense and the Sherman 105's were usually pressed into the indirect fire role as a supplement to the attached artillery battalion, and added the weight of their fires as a sort of unofficial fourth battery. They did not have the range of the M-7 because they could not use the full charge propellant. Because they were organic to the tank battalions, they were much more likely to be exposed to direct fire situations and their presence in the game is most reasonable.
Still, it should be kept in mind by those attempting to model WW2 doctrine, that the Sherman 105's were not then seen primarily as direct fire weapons, but were rather viewed as a sort of "less vulnerable M-7" that could operate closer to the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA). The 75mm-armed Shermans were in those days viewed as more than adequate to provide HE fire when circumstances dictated its use.
Bottom line: They were there, use them but if you care, recall that they were still farily rare (only 4 present in a tank battalion that had another 54 mediums and 17 lights to do the brunt of the fighting).
But yeah, fer sure, they do go BOOM real nice!
-
Thanks for the interesting photos and thread in general. Camouflage is one of my passions although I'm no expert about it.
My impression, though, is that the Panther in the b/w photo is not wearing the depot/factory applied scheme but rather is likely wearing a field-applied effort to duplicate what was being applied by the pros.
If you examine the factory applied scheme carefully, you will see that there was an effort to use the three colors in an intermingled fashion. The dots were applied in all 3 colors, in a contrasting manner, i.e. yellow dots went on green and brown, brown dots on yellow and green and green dots on yellow and brown solid fields.
The theory as I understand it, was to come up with a scheme that would give both long-range disruptive patterns (the big red/green/yellow areas) and also provide close in camouflage speckling similar to the SS uniforms we have all seen.
For such a scheme work, it has to be applied with some deliberation and methodology, taking into account color percentages, placement and percentages allocated to large areas and size and amount of small dots.
Field expedient methods to do this would probably result in something like the Panther illustrated...close, but no cigar.
Postwar patterns have, in some cases, continued to attempt to have the best of both worlds. The US Army's 1960's four-color scheme in West Germany was one outgrowth of this effort, as was the US Engineering Command's MERDEC four-color pattern system that was prevalent in the 80's. The MERDEC plan was interesting in that it provided doctrine and instructions for changing the four colors as climate and location changed. The earlier 4 color scheme of the '60's was more a rip off of the last WW2 German patterns and was not considered very successful.
The Brits and Germans went a different route in vehicle camouflage after the war, leaning towards the bold, disruptive patterns. Typically you'd see black lobes and areas arrayed around the vehicle to disrupt view from a distance and break up the vehicle's outline.
The latest 3-color patterns seen on humvees and German vehicles of late is derived from the Germans again, this time seeking to both disrupt the vehicle outline with black, yet to provide some camouflage coloration with the blending of brown into the green.
I hope this rambling discourse has been of some interest and that it sparks feedback and continued dialogue in this area.
-
Originally posted by Kitty:
Kdoggy didn't find any such pictures because the Tiger I never ever was ever, and I mean NEVER, EVER painted with the ambush scheme. I can cite sources if you need me to.
Kitty
OOOOHKay...now I understand, your earlier post meant that you had a source (that Tigers were not painted this way), not a photo of one, correct? I thought you were telling us you had such a photo and I was curious to see it.
BTW I'd like to see you tackle the Tiger myself.
[This message has been edited by gunnergoz (edited 03-19-2001).]
-
OK, Kitty, I'll bite...where can we see it? I'm not doubting you, I'd just enjoy looking at it.
-
Thank you Blenheim, that's all I wanted to hear.
Stand down from General Quarters, one and all.
-
Hamsters you miss my point.
Derogatory statements specifying and disrespecting a discrete nationality or race, using profane language, are not acceptable in any context outside of mutually consentual conversation held between individuals, in privacy.
This is not about negative and descriptive comments about equipment, tactics or specific leaders. What is being propagated is a negative stereotype of a culture and it's people. This is not permitted in the workplace or in the media, by law for crying out loud. That being the case, why should this forum decend to the level of a red-neck locker room full of good-old-boy hackneyed prejudice?
Sorry, but to defend such terminology or the so-called right to assert it, is not flattering to your reputation as even an amateur historian or gamer.
The only thing less appealing than ignorance is the defense of same.
-
Originally posted by Hamsters:
When did everyone become so damn sensitive? Does everything have to be a reason to get offended. People have been calling the Italians military crap for years, get used to it, move on and when CM3 comes out, kick his lily white fanny with those ****ty Italians.
Ah, another crude idiot raises his arrogant head. Thanks for proving that "****ty" (as you put it) people are not restricted to one nationality.
BTW, those are MY so-called "****ty" peole, including a grandfather who suffered greatly serving his country.
This is not about juvenile grognard humor, this is about civility in a public forum. Figure it out.
-
Originally posted by Blenheim:
WW I would be rather boring most of the time...
...And in some of the Alpinian battles, with those ****ty italians. And BTW, I'd love seeing some so-called Italian tanks. Worse than a Sherman... how did they manage to do that?
So, Blenheim, is this how you would like YOUR kinsmen to be referred to? You, sir are an insensitive ethnocentric lout.
BTW, read a bit more history before referring to a people as "****ty."
-
I'm with Måkjager on this one, I've never seen a Tiger with an ambush scheme in photos. The scheme was so complex that it seems unlikely to have been applied in the field, so with the possible exception of depot rebuilds I'd be personally surprised if a photo of one turns up.
-
I agree and avoid the use of Mod Manager. Perhaps through my own ineptness, it managed to overwrite all my favorite mod files and I had to reload CM and the patches from scratch. I must have not read the readme file right
Now I just copy the .bmp's that I want to use from dedicated storage folders, e.g. "winter speckled grass" or "French units" etc. Using CompuPic as a file transfer manager, it's easy and gives you visual verification of what you're doing.
-
Thanks to all you guys for your input. I'm obviously still hoping to hear from the BTS team as to what they think.
My own experiences and setup, outlined in a different thread, simply lead me to conclude that I can improve upon the wait for the battle AI to resolve itself.
BTW I mentioned the video card as part of the equation because a poorly designed card and drivers can bog down the main system CPU unnecessarily, while a superior video card minimizes calls to the CPU. The same applies to audio cards and drivers, and to hard drives (especially IDE). So my goal is to get BTS to give me their best guess at the hardware combinations to use, and also to avoid.
-
What processor/memory/video card combination will give the best performance with respect to minimizing the wait for the AI to calculate battle outcomes?
It is clear that faster is better, but is there a combination that would be optimal? Is there something about the Intel CPU vs. the AMD that would lend greater effiency in playing CM?
It is clearly easy to come up with a system that displays the battlefield seamlessly and without hesitation and also plays the battle replays fluidly and without pause.
It is more difficult to pinpoint the factors that will optimize the system to minimize the time it takes to calculate the outcome once the "GO" button is pressed.
-
Originally posted by Space Thing:
I have a 700 Mhz Duron on an A7V mobo with a 250 watt power supply. If I upgrade to a faster T-bird processor, will I also need to upgrade the power supply??
Thanks.
I'm not an engineer Space Thing, but I'd go with a bigger power supply because you never know what you'll hang off the darn thing, and may draw more power. I build all my own systems except Macs and the investment in at least a 300W power supply has paid off in the long run. If you buy a hot (literally) new processor then use the extra horsepower to run a few cooling fans. I currently use 3 fans in the casing of mine, and it's only a 400mhz P-II.
-
Originally posted by Space Thing:
I have a 700 Mhz Duron on an A7V mobo with a 250 watt power supply. If I upgrade to a faster T-bird processor, will I also need to upgrade the power supply??
Thanks.
I'm not an engineer Space Thing, but I'd go with a bigger power supply because you never know what you'll hang off the darn thing, and may draw more power. I build all my own systems except Macs and the investment in at least a 300W power supply has paid off in the long run. If you buy a hot (literally) new processor then use the extra horsepower to run a few cooling fans. I currently use 3 fans in the casing of mine, and it's only a 400mhz P-II.
-
Originally posted by Maximus:
Just one suggestion though when posting screenshot from PhotoPoint. That service tends to darken the image quite a bit, so before you submit an image to it, you might want to increase the image's brightness or gamma or both. Look at your bottom pic, especially, to see what I mean.
That's easy Maximus, just plug your monitor into 220 volts like I do! It's REALLY bright!
-
I'm considering a move to a 1 ghz+ T-bird but the critical issue is how CM works with it, of course!
Anyone with first hand experience? If so, please describe your system a bit also.
Many thanks
CM is halting all of a sudden! why?! pls help
in Combat Mission Archive #3 (2001)
Posted
Off the top of my head, how about these possibilities:
- You may have insufficient RAM or system resources due to other programs running simultaneously;
- Your HD is nearly full and windows swap space is at its limits;
- Your game and or system files have become corrupted due to viruses or HD-read-write problems;
- Your video drivers are corrupted and the game craps its drawers when directed to compile video commands for the replay phase;
- You angered the Gods and must sacrifice a chicken or small child immediately.