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Sardaukar

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Posts posted by Sardaukar

    Karelia '44

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Battles on Karelia Isthmus during summer 1944 were remarkable in few aspects..at least.

    First, it was the only "strategic strike" made by Soviet Union during WW II that failed to achieve it's objectives (it did achieve some of it's political objectives, though).

    Secondly, battles were about size of El Alamein, and everyone knows that, but very few knows about Tali-Ihantala for example. Soviets were of course not too eager to publicize that they were stopped.

    Third, it was first time Finnish forces used truly massive artillery "fire groups", enabling them to achieve artillery parity (and in some instances, artillery superiority) over Soviet forces. Soviets had lot more guns, but Finns were able to use theirs lot more efficiently. Artillery was *the* main factor in success.

    Fourth (albeit it was north of Isthmus), there was the operation where 2 Soviet divisions were encircled and almost annihilated in early August around Ilomantsi area. That wasn't happening very often to late 1944 Soviet forces. It was called "mottimestarin viimeinen oppitunti" (encirclement master's last lesson) smile.gif

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Karelia '44

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Some mistakes made by Finnish GHQ was to have too many units in Eastern Karelia area. If Soviet AF interdiction would have been in place, those units would have never arrived to crucial parts of Isthmus battles in time. In occasions, they were thrown into battle almost straight from railroad cars as it was.

    Also, the Finnish front line in Valkeasaari was very unfavourable for defense, being very sandy terrain, thus making proper entrenchment very difficult, which resulted to most of the trenches caving in under Soviet artillery attack.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Armour in Finland

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by undead reindeer cavalry:

    thanks. i was pulling numbers from my memory, so they must be more or less off.

    did T-26s really take part in the armored battles of summer 1944? i was under the impression that lighties were kept behind the lines.

    how did those German StuGs & StuHs do? they took part in battles, but that's all i know.

    Yes, T-26s did participate in some action on Isthmus..and if I recall right, so did T-28E from Ps.D's (Arm Div)Heavy Tank Company. Of course they were not too effective against T-34s.. smile.gif .

    German StuGs and StuHs from 303. StuG Brigade knocked out exactly 1 Soviet tank, a T-34. Picture of that is one of the most famous TK-pics (war correspondant pics) during that time, several pics were taken, most wrongly giving the kill to Finnish 75 PAK 40. German unit was raw, just formed in Baltic states area and it's performance was less than stellar.

    In comparison, Finnish StuGs killed 87 Soviet tanks while losing 8 StuGs during that period.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Area fire gamey?

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Calling artillery on suspected/observed enemy positions, "recon by fire", "denial by fire", area firing enemy positions with HE for supression..nothing gamey in that, good real life tactics.

    Even using artillery, mortars and direct fire HE assets against heavy armour is normal...harassment, killing unbuttoned crew members, damaging communication equipment and optics, immobilization, etc.

    Having unused assets against suspected (or even worse, observed) enemy threats and not using them is very "unprofessional" in military sense, unless planning dictates otherwise.

    Taking advantage of game bugs is gamey, like CMBO flak truck issue was. But borg spotting is same to both sides, and is fair, albeit punishing some types of units unhistorically, but it works both sides. If there is Hetzer waiting in ambush, no clever commander will fight on opponent's terms..he'll smoke it's view,outflank it, call arty/air power on it or area fire HE to hope for damage. After all, Hetzer has delicate gun traverse mechanism.

    War has never been, is not, and never will be fair. it's inherently "gamey".

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Pz IV tactics?

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by Pyewacket:

    Just one question bewteen your discussion:

    After reading this thread I made some tests/training with tanks vs. tanks (1943) . Pz IV and Pz.III vs T34. So here is my question, why the Pz.III can eat lots of Russian shells before being KO while the Pz. IV blew up mostly after the first hit? Pz.IV armor is 80 and Pz.III 50+20. So who knows the reason?

    Spaced armour in Pz III causes the HE-burster in APHE shells to detonate before 50 mm plate. Those shells can be seen in Soviet unit menu having "large HE burster". Thus, 50+20 is lot more than plain 80 mm. Big difference between big shell exploding outside 50 mm armour and big shell exploding inside 80 mm armour smile.gif .

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Any free Divison level games out there?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by Peterk:

    But, how would you override TOAW's battle result with teh one from CM?

    Great game by the way. I just bought it myself 2 weeks ago.

    One can use TOAW as keeping record what happens generally and unit strength, by not playing the turns in game, but just changing the positions and strengths with editor according to CM results. Since TOAW will have comfy unit size of companies, for example, that'd fit just fine into scale of CM.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    How Germans really took out KV-1s

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    KV-1s (few that were encountered 1941-42) were very difficult to deal with for Finns, since main AT weapons were 37mm ATGs and 20 mm ATRs. One KV-1 was destroyed with commmand-detonated 20 kg explosive charge, another when lucky hit from 37 mm ATG removed the hull MGs armour cover, and 2 rounds from 37 mm were able to enter the tank through that hole. 2 KV-1s were captured, KV-1 m1940 and KV-1E, both used by Finns through the war.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

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    Bunkers, wire, trenches and deep woods.

    in Combat Mission - Tips and Tricks

    Posted

    I think you need more LOS for your bunker. 25 m just don't make it since it's inside grenade range. Wire inside woods is usually bad for attacker, since it negates cover and concealment bonus of terrain quite a bit...but you need more firepower to kill the enemy when they are *in* the wire, so that they don't get past it...then they are basicly in equal or even better position than you are, esp. if SMG squads.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

    0

    In 1939 which way did these countries lean (Axis vs Allies)?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by japinard:

    So was Sweden in the USSR's "sights" thus the initial reason for the Estonian/Swedish/Finnish alliance?

    If not, was Sweden more like Swizerland in profiting somewhat from German wartime needs?

    Alfatwosix - I'm enjoying this thread too smile.gif So fun to learn new things from old history.

    Sweden was probably also in Stalin's sights, but Germany would have never allowed that. Swedish iron and other ores were essential for Germany's industry. Sweden did supply a lot of raw material etc. to Germany, but they were never "inclined" Axis way, so comparation with Switzerland is very accurate in many ways.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

    0

    How Germans really took out KV-1s

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    It's a scenario..."Iron Roadblock" and it's damn difficult.

    BTW, first timed Finns encountered KV-1(not counting the prototype participating early 1940 battles in Karelia Isthmus) it proved impervious to all AT-weapons, including AT-mines then used. IIRC it was disabled by combat engineers with 20 kg explosive charge.

    Cheers,

    M.S.

    [ January 15, 2004, 02:05 AM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

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