Dark Pa

Some sources that may be of interest: "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege" by Antony Beevor http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140284583/qid=1037166846/sr=2-1/ ref=sr_2_1/002-6711461-3230436 I found this a very well-written and illuminating tome. Also a couple of Russian films - not really for grogs, but each is a true work of art and gives some insight into the ostfront from the perpective of Soviet bit-players: "Come and See" ....1985, Dir. Elem Klimov http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=A10400 "Ivan's Childhood" (aka "My Name is Ivan")......1962, Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky http://www.rusfilm.pitt.edu/2001/ivan.html [ November 13, 2002, 01:18 AM: Message edited by: Dark Pa ]

Forgot to mention: Move a leader in close proximity to a broken or shaken squad, and they calm down pretty fast and get back into action, particularly if you move the leader with them.....

Wading in: What I appreciate about CMBB is that I actually need to think very carefully before doing anything with my troops, just as a real-life commander would. Impatience is usually rewarded with the thin screams of my men getting mown down. My guess is that most soldiers on the Eastern Front preferred to advance with as much suppressive fire in support as possible, and most would hit the dirt once the lead started flying around them and pretty much stay there until it stopped. Nonetheless, every now and then I see a squad of badasses overcome several enemy positions before wanting a rest.....seems reasonable enough that most soldiers, especially if green, won't be as useful. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Move to Contact is good for most troops - they at least start shooting in the direction of the enemy once they contact them, which gives the more experienced squads a chance to crawl forward and lob some grenades or assault.

Dark Pa, please post a warning when you are going to provide info that Spoils the scenario for other ppl who haven't played it yet. Thank you, S.M.[/QB]

As a CMBB newbie, I'm certainly reassessing the tactics that used to work in (e.g) the Close Combat series. I tried a short run with a German platoon from trees into the primate house in the "Zoo" scenario.....they only had 15-20 metres to cover, but they were mown down almost to a man by an unspotted MG. I felt suitably chastened.....I doubt a real-life commander would order something so reckless. Seemed like a realistic smack-down to me.

Looks like a near-identical encounter to one I had in the CENSORED:SPOILER (there you go, SM ) scenario. The Romanian tanks still took out all 4 Turans plus an AT gun even though I'd carefully ordered the Turans to go "hull-down" & given the AT gun a good arc to cover (it did manage to get the armoured car) - there was no infantry diversion going on. No damage at all to Romanian tanks, mainly due to shells shattering on impact. [ October 29, 2002, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Dark Pa ]

Having only received CMBB in the post a few days ago, I have already observed this numerous times in one battle where one of my assault guns KO'd several tanks and armoured cars on a narrow road. Other tanks came along and bulldozed the flaming wreckage out of the way. I've also seen an immobilized PzIV pushed aside by a PzIII when it was blocking the road.