wbs
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Posts posted by wbs
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From Dirtweasel:
If I recall correctly, Mr. Ambrose admitted to borrowing the 'ball turret' passage from another author without properly attributing it in his book.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bark - I've not purchased the book in question, and can't recall the details. I agree with you in general, though I think the particular passage about the ball turret is not a good expample. Becuse if something is round or small, or whatever other obvious characteristics there might be described, how else could you describe it?
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From gbaker59:
Same here. In one game not long ago I hit and Killed TWO moving Shermans with the same Panzer shrek in the same turn (on consecutive shots). One was killed at 160 meters and the other at 195 meters.I have the strangest luck with these things. I hit a moving Panther with a zook at 190 meters. My opposition wasn't amused.Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you..............
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From Mr. Johnson:
I would have to disagree with that statement, Mr. Johnson, from both a military and a political standpoint.Why else does Ambrose explain the first war America lost, Korea?From a military standpoint:
When the fighting reached the point where the armies arrived at the positions that they still more-or-less hold, the UN forces were on the offensive. The war had seesawed back and forth, but at the moment when Truman issued his 'halt' order the UN forces were in the process of winning on the battlefield.
Now, it is possible that the momentum would have swung back to the NK/Chinese side, but that is a hypothetical series of events that cannot be proven or disproven. All we can say for sure is that we were in the process of winning (i.e. on the strategic offensive) when the army was halted for political reasons. That certainly cannot be interpreted as a military loss--at worst it's a tie.
Many times real-world results are measured against public expectations and the success or failure of a particular endeavor is determined by how those two standards compare to each other.
It is likely that the US public, in general, was expecting to see another 'unconditional victory' since we'd unconditionally beaten the Axis powers just 5 years before. You MAY say:, "since we didn't win an unconditional victory therefore we failed", but you may also say "since the North Koreans were tossed out of South Korea therefore we succeeded".
From a Political Standpoint:
The intent of the communist forces was to forcibly unify Korea under one (communist) rule.
In this effort they clearly failed. Not only did they fail in their intitial, wartime effort, but they have lost the postwar peace as well. Since 1953 South Korea has become much more prosperous, and North Korea less prosperous, respective to each other, than they were in the 1st half of 1950.
As in the discussion of the military situation above, sometimes success or failure is measured against expectations rather than actual results.
It could be argued that the Korean War was a political failure since we let ourselves get talked into the status quo ante after THEY started it--it seemed that they were not being punished for their aggression.
If you balance this interpretation against the other one three paragraphs above, I think that at worst you may call it a tie, but certainly not a loss.
Now, some of y'all will disagree with this, but I think that MacArthur was a hero (and right) while Truman was a foolish moron (and WRONG!) about how the war should have been prosecuted. Truman practically committed a traitorous act when he fired MacArthur.
{wbs thinks to himself: "There, THAT statement should be good for a few hundred posts!"
}As a truth-in-whatever disclaimer, my grandfather was MacArthur's Asst. Chief-of-Staff and later acting Chief-of Staff during the occupation of Tokyo and the first part of the Korean War. I had the privilege of having dinner with Gen. MacArthur one night before he died. As a result, My opinion on this issue WILL NOT change, but it will be fun to see what y'all have to say about it.....
[ March 07, 2002, 04:59 PM: Message edited by: wbs ]
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This is as funny as anything I've EVER seen on this board....Formula 1--WWII style!
You obviously need to get a life
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Posted by Kanonier Reichmann:
Hmmm....You might have a point, there :cool:????? QUOTE:Americans do not like to dress up for their sports!!!!You've got to be kidding. How about all that bleedin' padding, helmets, grilles etc. those gridiron players wear to try & make themselves look 3 times bigger than they really are? Talk about dressing up when there's no real need for it, especially if you play a "mans" version of footbal such as Aussie Rules.
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Thanks to you all. I will check out all of the scenarios mentioned.
Wild Bill, I have had your scenario for awhile now (you e-mailed it to me--thank you) and am now in the middle of playing it. Stay tuned. News on the outcome at 11
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From Croda:
Croda, His description of 'angular and uniform' makes me think he is referring to trees. The shell craters you mention do look like shadows, but they are rather diffuse and amorphous (sp?) across the open fields.quote:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by jgdpzr:
quote:
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Originally posted by Gpig:
What in the hell are those large blocky/angular/dark sections, casting the LONG shadows.
Are those WOODS/FOREST?
Gpig
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That is what I am wondering as well. At first I thought they were buildings, but the scale is all wrong for that it seems. The edges and shadows look awfully angular and uniform to be trees, but I don't know what else they could be. I suppose the fact they are planted forests may account for some of that regularity and angular nature, but I wouldn't have thought to this extent.
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Again:
Methinks those are the shell craters he refers to.
TRIVIA NOTE: In the immediate aftermath of the 'Challenger' explosion in 1986, I read in a New Hampshire newspaper that the teacher who was killed--Christa McAuliffe, was the Granddaughter-in-Law of Gen. Anthony McAuliffe of Bastogne fame (her husband is Gen. McAuliffe's grandson)
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From L. Tankersley:
Interesting Tactic--thank you.Originally posted by wbs:Pondscum, please correct me if I'm wrong, but since the 'hunt' command always has the tank moving in a forward direction, wouldn't the tank make a 180 degree turn in order to execute your command? If so, that would give the enemy a nice shot in the butt.....
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No. You drag the waypoint behind the tank, and while it is selected hit the 'reverse' key to change it to a 'reverse' waypoint. Then it's just like it was a reverse waypoint all along. This is another reason to plot multiple "tophat" style maneuvers at once - it gives you more waypoints to play with. You want to keep them close together (keep the path lengths at or less than the distance you can drag a waypoint) to maintain maximum flexibility. This can help offset the inflexibility you get at turn boundaries with no pending orders.
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{wbs groans, realizing he's just put his foot in his mouth--please excuse him a moment while he extracts it.....}She's certainly no brave man.I wouldn't expect her to mind you...
You might not know that but some of us introduced our better halves to either the game or the board.
Emma doesn't have to actually own the game to be worth her salt in contributions.
Reading MODs & MODers to tip me on the worst typos is one of the few services she's providing.
But I won't elaborate.
Thank you, I stand corrected.
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From Pondscum:
Pondscum, please correct me if I'm wrong, but since the 'hunt' command always has the tank moving in a forward direction, wouldn't the tank make a 180 degree turn in order to execute your command? If so, that would give the enemy a nice shot in the butt.....If your tank just ran into trouble (low hit chance, low kill chance, more enemy tanks appeared, a hidden enemy AT gun opened up), you can drag the hunt waypoint behind your tank, turn it into a reverse, and your tank immediately starts reversing out of trouble. -
WOW! Way cool! I wish I could look at the full-size photo with a magnifying glass.
Did y'all notice the date of the photo? It is 12/27/44!! (Look at the edge). As I recall, that was right around the day that the 101st was relieved by the 4th Armored Div.
Gee, if I could only look at it through a magnifying glass--The things I might be able to see and identify.....
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From YK2:
WHAT!! Are you feeling alright?I don't play CMYou're a brave man to make such an admission on this board. People might start to wonder about you....
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Somewhere in a long-ago thread I thought that I read that BTS was going to use a distributor for its European market. Don't know whether that post was from someone with good knowledge or whether it ever happened.
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Yes, as long as your opponent's unit is not at a higher level than your unit is.Can a tank achieve hull down status behind a stone wall? -
OK, thanks--I will check it out,
Anybody out there know of others??
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I'm interested in downloading scenarios that specifically focus on Combat Engineers (US) does anyone have any suggestions? The scenario descriptions generally are not detailed enough for me to tell if the starring roles involve Combat Engineers.
Thanks.
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From the ol' one-eye:
LOL!!When I was a kid, we would make a device called a 'funnelator' to launch water balloons at our opponents ( The Innocent and Unexpecting ) at ranges up to 150 yards or so. All you need is about 6 feet of heavy surgical tubing and a funnel (hence funnel-ator) have your cohorts grab each end of tube, while the third loads pulls and fires the ballon, like a giant sling shot. It is simple, cheap, accurate and effective to throw a FULL ballon a good distance. Why couldnt you just substitute a H2O balloon with a Mills bomb or any other grenade?Yeah, when I was a student at the Univ. of Delaware we would hook up a funnelator in my dorm room, pull it across the room and out into the hall, and send water bombs sailing across the roof of the dining hall to bombard the wall of the dorm 100 yds away on the other side of the quad. It was always a sweet moment when one would disappear into an open window. Of course, it worked in the other direction, too, and we took our share of hits. This would go on all year long--What Fun!! Ah, how I miss those days of carefree irresponsibility. It almost makes me want to go back for another graduate degree just so that I can do that again.... :cool:
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Post # 100? I HAVE POST #100 !!
er, what do I win?
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Yep, I agree with waiting and having done right. I can occupy myself from now 'til then by playing all of those CMBO scenarios at the scenario depot that I haven't gotten around to, yet.
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From WWB:
WWB, IIRC, the National Air and Space Museum's Silver Hill facility (I think its called) now has public tours on a regular basis. I think it's every saturday and sunday but I'm not sure. If anyone is interested you may call the NASM or find the NASM website and see if the info is there.There is, or was, one stateside. It is at the Air and Space Museum's warehouse in suburban MD. The facility is open one weekend a year in the spring. I saw it when I was but a pup, 10 years ago or so. Very nicely done restoration, I have had a thing for the 190A ever since. -
Croda,
I wonder if a museum or professional collector might be able to shed some light on your flag. The Smithsonian in DC might be able to answer your question, and probably for free. They have given me free advice on preserving historical newspapers, for example.
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Incidentally, since this thread has broadened a little bit to include other collectibles--
I have all of my grandfather's papers. In this collection are both personal and official letters to my grandfather that were written and signed by generals Omar Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, William Hoge (captured the bridge at Remagen), Jimmy Doolittle, and numerous others.
I am not particularly interested in selling them, but I am interested in finding out how much they might be worth as items of historical interest.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how, or where, I might find out?
Thanks.
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From Croda:
Hi, Croda, thanks for the post. I did see this page several years ago, but then I forgot about it.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------wbs -
Check out this link for the 44th ID TO&E. You may or may not have seen it before.
My grandfather was the General William Beiderlinden you see listed there. He was the Asst. Div. Commander (and Commander of the divisional artillery) until after the war, when General Dean (who was a good family friend) was transferred. Granddad was then promoted to command of the 44th until he was transferred to Tokyo to become MacArthur's Asst. Chief of Staff (Later acting Chief of Staff).
Being the oldest grandchild (and a male), I inherited his name, and so am William Beiderlinden Severe (hence the wbs for my board name)
Incidentally--the General Dean listed there is the same General Dean who was captured by the North Koreans in the opening days of that war.
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From Lars:
Great Find, Lars, this is way cool! God, how I would love to be the first kid at my local airfield to have one! Think of all the heads you would turn! A plane with lots of "show off" factor (i.e. you can really 'show off' in this plane).:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by jshandorf:
Also, any know where any Fw190s are located?
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Here you go, shandorf. Get yourself a new one.
FW-190
Only US $525,000 (some assembly required).
Thanks for posting it.
[ February 26, 2002, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: wbs ]
}
What's wrong with S. Ambrose's books?
in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)
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From scoop88:
Amen to that!!