panzermartin

I haven't seen any content posted by Haiduk lately, I hope he is doing OK. His updates were most enlightening.

There were older times when human life didn't have that much value. People were used to death. Many newborns didn't make it, common illness could kill, and in general life was much more miserable for the common folk. Societies were living in the darkness of religion and analphabetism. One could easily sacrifice himself for the glory of the king, the emperor, the Imam or just for a day's ration. While this also happens today as we can see, we have progressed and at least in the civilized World we protect even the most weak among us, the campaign against covid and the titanic struggle to save people was a prime reminder that we are not in 1917 anymore. I'm not sure we are ready to give back so easily, what we earned with blood and hundreds of years of social struggle. It will be a huge setback in human history and there is nothing glorious about it . I'm not even sure if even fighting Russia is worth this.

Terriers are very skinny, only good enough for a side dish. And orcs are eating humans when available . I call this a hoax.

Wow, I actually found a ton of info on the T-62, that was also meant to lob HE after all. Combined with the gunner's quadrant, the T-62 can conduct indirect fire https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/t-62.html?m=1

Yes, well put . And I can even see those T - 62 even used as indirect fire platforms firing from reverse slopes as Russians seem to be fixated with everything artillery, although precision will definitely suck. M48s, I think I served along those too in 2000s or M60s I don't really remember, I was a medic alongside a tank unit. It's a very tall tank, it's size can help with the morale yes, if you are a rookie. Good times though, no war fever in sight back then . Although you probably had a more intense experience.

Probably survivability of T 62 doesn't really make a world of difference to more modern tanks like T 72, when faced against javelins and modern AT weapons. Those can kill everything. So why not field an older tank for secondary support. It's better than a BMP in terms of protection and has a big gun. They only seem focused to gather as many gun barrels as possible to saturate infantry positions. It's questionable at least though in what condition these tanks are. It will be bizarre to see them on the front line again.

Erdogan seems almost a double agent of Russia within NATO. A lot depends on the outcome in Ukraine, then we will see Turkey pushing things in aegean more actively. Almost considering my trip to Dodecanese islands this summer lol.

Yes indeed. I thought, almost everything was sanctioned but there is still significant trade still going on, even with their rival enemies US.

Speaking about wheat, I didn't know this but Russia is the no1 exporter not Ukraine. At least according to this tweet. We are banning wheat but not russian oil, interesting logic.

Do we really know how many UA troops were taken out of action in Mariupol since the start of the siege. I remember a force exceeding 10.000 there, among them most of Azov's best. We are constantly talking about the russian inability to replace combat ready troops, but I wonder if Ukraine is facing the same or worse situation.

Interesting footage. I didn't know cluster bombs could be incendiary as well. I wonder how many different types of artillery has Russia used so far, every time I see something different. I could be wrong but I haven't seen these in CMBS I think....Might give CMCW a try some of these days.

Not even nuclear threats this time. So we are not in a pivotal moment of the war after all? Putin doesn't look to be in the mood for anything grander. He casually read the speech pages. This didn't feel like a dictators speech urging to mobilize the nation. Also seems our media has been bombarding us with BS about Putin's and Shoigu's health.

Photoshopped but made look like it was pen corrected...? This could be real and I don't want to think about it

Much of this is a mix due to WW2, the German EU dominance, the economic misery of the past decade and a very important thing, the religious connection of more conservative layers of society to the "Orthodox Brothers". (Which is rather silly considering Ukrainians are orthodox too but are being killed by Chexhens) But there is centuries old cultural connection with Russia, the Cyrilus and Methodius from Byzantine Thessaloniki spreading the Cyrillic alphabet and Christianity to the Slavs etc. We traditionally had good relations with Russia, along with the British and the French they were allies against the Ottomans and helped us develop today's modern state after 400 yrs of Turkish rule. It's more about Russia and less about Putin though. There is also some ignorance on the darker side of his rule. But most people I know are rather shocked and worried with the russian invasion.

It's still the weekend. From tomorrow I'm preparing my paperwork to depart . It is still difficult for me after 20 years of very engaging threads, modding and gaming. Anyway, in case of WW3 and the fall of civilization we might have to say goodbye afterall. In that case, I want to thank BFC for their amazing games. When gaming with friends we still recall tiny details of vast CM battles, and we all agree it was the finest moment of our war gaming (and probably pc gaming in general ) Sadly, my most close CM buddy Spiros who was lurking here and playing in some ladders, passed away unexpectedly. This game was a way to remember him. Cheers "Mein General" !

I'm not denying these facts. All I wanted to defend is in the context of WW2. There is some re writing of history emerging along with the Ukraine War, which I find worrying. It's almost like saying that no matter what side won, the World would be the same. Like If Nazis and USSR were equal evil then we would feel as comfortable if Nazis had won which is not the case . As I said the free powers of the World sided with USSR, but they actually had a choice to support Hitler against the "evil commies" . But they didn't.

To be honest. If Russians crimes are so widespread as the Ukrainians imply, I'm expecting this. I don't think there is much logic when things go out of hand in war. I'm afraid we will see people here justificating it and I will probably be out of words to counter them. No glorification but respect to the people that perished fighting. I don't have red banners in my home and I and I debate with passion people with one sided view of history, even my father who was very emotional about the Soviet Army, because these were the people in 1944 that made the occupation army withdraw from the Balkans and his country.

No, I understand what you are saying but I'm sorry it's a misunderstanding of my initial post. I didn't excuse and I don't consider this as a viable tactic. I could understand though their rage when committing revenge actions. If I was there and had the courage I would probably say stop you freaking animals. But from a "historical" distance and context it seems like a punishment that was inevitable. Kraze, I don't feel comfortable to debate you because of the current situation and your (just) feelings against Russia. You have a more personal view of history that is perfectly understandable. I don't ignore the facts and your points when I don't reply though. Last time Im writing about this, I never said Red Army were saints. I'm not in a fantasy world. But is a dangerous path to equalize them with the illness of Nazi Germany. A key difference is that Nazi army was much more disciplined but the atrocities were a calculated wider fascist plan and policy we all know about. I can't repeat it every time, these aren't on the same weight and most historians will tell us this. Nazi Germany was a greater threat to the World at that time than USSR that's why the free powers of planet earth back then sided with them and provided aid of millions to defeat Hitler. Doesn't this make sense?

You don't have an idea what it was like to be under the Nazi boot. You go to a country to exterminate certain "species" with 25 million dead and you expect they will handle you like porcelain in return. Now thats ROFL. You reap what you saw. Germans accepted that, time for you to accept it as well.

I'm sorry I don't understand the argument. It seems at least you agree that both fire bombing of civilians and mass raping were equally evil and pointless for ending war ? We don't disagree here.

Not an army of saints by any means. But nobody will object that they had every right to do this in german territory as retaliation . And they actually spared the vast majority of people that had come to their land to ethnic cleanse them and make soap or purses from their skin. In this logic, we can say that the carefully planned colossal allied fire bombings of undefended german cities packed with refugees were more evil. But some people here will say for that, "you reap what you saw", while for the soviets they will say they were evil orcs and monsters. That's somewhat ironic and double standard.

I'm actually pretty sympathetic towards germans. I respect their way of doing things, the traditional economy of family business, and yes a country that had suffered so much is a wiser country. My friends paint me as germanophile because of my obsession with Ww2 history, the German technology, aesthetics etc since I was a kid ignoring the "evil" side of this . I have cycled all their country along the Elba and I buy tons of german Weiss beer every year:) But I will never tolerate people whitewashing of crimes of the Nazi period or rewriting history. And I will always be critical on their leading role in EU when it becomes profit over people. Things have gotten much better between us since the 2015 crisis, I'm glad we stayed and I hope for a better european future... Now I'm bittered with all what's happening...Actually my dream was to see the past rivals, that bled each other so much in WW2, Germany and Russia coming closer together in a peaceful way. This is shattered now...

No, we all still believe in the european idea. Unlike the UK.

Hey, we are still politically dominated by Germany. Bullied at some point. The worst of the people I know thought it was good to offend dead people as revenge.

I swear if I ever read again that the Red army was equally evil with the SS and the Wehrmacht that made my father starve as a kid and his friends getting killed while painting slogans on walls, I'm going to delete my account here. There was nothing evil with the T 34s rolling down the streets of Berlin in 1945....Their crew could have been Ukrainian, Polish, Czech... Too bad I once had fun making mods for CMBB. Some had crosses, some had red stars, noone was actually offended. It's still a WW2 monument, not a stazi agent bust.