reinald@berlin.com

If you speak German and are into military history "Das Deutsche Reich und der der Zweite Weltkrieg" is THE book for the German side of things. Published by "Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt" there are already 8 or 9 volumes out covering the timespan from the prewar years till the turn of fortunes in 1942/43. Aside from military history it gives a lot of insight on how Nazism actually worked (constant bantering and inefficiency) and why the Germans simply had to lose.

Regulars would become elite. Ah, err ... and I was already wondering about those russki infantry squads that come under fire by three tanks + 2 HMGs and still continue to slaughter my poor Schützen.

Hmm. dunno. Having a hard time against the AI sometimes. I recently lost the "SP-Der Manstein kommt!" op. I always let the AI have +25% extra in troops and experience +3. What does the +3 in experience do? The point is: There are other factors than AI-predictability like being outnumbered by it, the AI starting in better positions or the designer having placed the AIs teams well that can ruin your day. Mebbe, I'm just plain lousy, but I still enjoy battling the AI.

Hmm, I ordered the guide some weeks ago and haven't received it yet. But they already charged my credit card :mad: (somewhat;)

Hi Hub, can you be more specific on how you're doing the compression and how exactly it does help. My PIII 600MHz takes awfully long once it gets regimental for processing the 1minute movie. AI thinking is done quite quickly, but the blue bar takes forever. Does compressing the BMPs e.g. with a software like Fireworks help accelerate the blue bar? [ March 05, 2003, 07:17 AM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

Yep, and my favorite is: "There can only be one schwerpunkt." Also very true for general civilian life.

klotzen = amass; use great numbers kleckern = unwisely distribute; use willy-nilly ... "Klotzen statt kleckern!" is a proverb coined by Guderian that means one should use concentration of overwhelming force instead of distributing one's power along the whole line. Very much true for armored combat. [ February 24, 2003, 11:23 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

Oops, got to correct one of my posts above: The WWII-era pod for the heavy-MG42 had 3 legs not 4 as has the modern variant. 1st pic: Original German MG42: The MG rests on the heavy-pod but still has the bipod attached to the barrel-casing, which is standard procedure. The gun can be taken off the big pod with one snap and be employed as an LMG to counter unexpected threats from outside the HMGs firing arc. 2nd pic: A Greek MG42 on the modern pod that is also used for the MG74 It is clearly visible that the pod rests on three legs. Two extra legs are also visible that are used to employ the gun with less elevation above ground which is more common than the setup potrayed in the pic. [ December 27, 2002, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

I'll try to get a comment next time I meet him. He made no secret of his opinion about the Italians. He said their officers were seldomely seen on the line but were 'doing around' with whores safe back while the enlisted men were left without leadership. Another recollection was that during retreats one could hardy drive on roads due to dropped Italian handguns and equipment. His impression was that Italians routinely beat POWs with their rifle-butts while the Germans treated them well.

The individual ft no, but as a team with two such weapons, they should.

On sighting of the HMG42: The gun is not triggered by its usual trigger (as when employed as an LMG) but by a trigger on the pod that kinda looks like a brake on a push-bike. The gunner has his eye against the optical-sight attached to the left of the pod. The sight on the gun itself is not used, except in absence of the scope. There are levers for adjusting horizontal and vertical aim. The distance to the target is adjusted on the sight, therefore one aims center target. Once vertical and horizontal adjusting is done, one fixes the levers (and thereby the gun) and squeezes out a garb. If the recoil throws the gun off-aim or the garb didn't hit, the process of aiming starts again. Otherwise, the levers remain fixed and more shots are fired. [ December 25, 2002, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

The Germans had dedicated HMG teams in their hvy-weapons coys. Couldn't find out online how many men such an HMG-team had according to the table of organization, but that counted almost nil in reality, especially with German units and their chronic shortage of manpower. The difference between a 'light' MG42 and a 'heavy' one is in the pod. The light one has a simple bipod attached to the barrel-casing. It was the main weapon of a rifle squad and operated by two men, one firing, the other feeding ammo and observing the battlefield. The heavy MG42 rests on a 4-legged pod that has a scope attached for aiming and offers convenient means for adjusting elevation above ground etc. Employed statically, two men were more than enough to operate it. I was a MG74 (an improved MG42) gunner and we always had two men operate the weapon, no matter if heavy or light. If we shifted position I carried the gun itself (now 'light' again witht he bipod re-attached) and my #2 carried the 'heavy'-pod rucksack style. No prob to move for miles like this, but we needed the help of the other 6 squaddies if we wanted to take the full allotment of ammo along. Conclusion: the extra 4 men in the heavy MG-team are there for movement, but got little to do when the gun fires - except firing their own weapons. I think it is a minor flaw in game design that those 4 men's handguns aren't added to the squads' firepower. They had rifles or SMGs just like rifle-squad teammembers. Worst is, that noone in those 6-men teams defends himself when the MG jams. What are the extra 4 guys doing? Cheerleading the MG-gunner trying to unjam his gun?

Had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Reinald's Grandpa yesterday. He's been a 88mm FlAK-gunner with the Arikakorps. All I was able to get out of him was that the 88mm didn't bother to aim for weak-points on British tanks cause they'd kill them anyways. The 37mm and 5cm PAKs did bother to aim for the turret. He took part in a battle for the Halfaya-pass where his FlAK-coy, according to him, was credited with 25 killed Brit MarkII tanks. He also claimed he was among the first Germans to breach the fortifications of Tobruk. Repatriated due to illness before the Alamein-battle he spent the rest of the war as leader of a 20mm-FlAK-Vierling crew inside Germany.

Thx for the informative post winkelried. About "Schwenken": Would fit better to describe the traversing of the gun, not the whole vehicle. "Turm schwenken" -> rotate turret. "Panzer schwenken" -> not really good.

ok, ok. "Wenden" would be best. "Drehen" would also do. "Rotieren" in its physical sense is still correct, but, yes, common use puts it more somewhere near 'spin(ning)'. As long as we don't have to read that our pixel-heroes' guns 'clamped'.

@RMC: "Rotieren" is perfectly ok for 'rotate'. "In Deckung gehen" means 'taking cover'. 'Hide' should have been translated with "Verstecken".

And there's much more crap like this in the CDV-version. 'jam' is translated as "Klemme". But "Klemme" means 'clamp'. The correct German term would be "Hemmung" or "Ladehemmung".

Mrs. Reinald and me had a 'vivid' discussion just yesterday cause I switched off the TV in order to concentrate on some work while she has been "... enduring the dumb peng-bang-boom in Reinald's home office next to 'her' livingroom for weeks ..." Calmed things down by finally doing our Christmas-shopping with her and lunch at the Italian restaurant next corner. [ December 15, 2002, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

Hmm, good point. I dunno from here on. Given all that I agree it should at least be a tad quicker traversed than a hand-crancked medium tank like the Panther.

The way they work in the game they are a defensive weapon. Hide them out and wait till something inflammable comes close.

I do think my argument is satisfactory cause a 5cm AT gun's weight was some 900+ kg. Now try to traverse that plus a turret quickly - by hand that is.

These are actually 2men teams with 2 flamethrowers, one for each. The Germans found out that hand-held fts worked best in pairs.

No, Hinterhang=back slope telgedeckte Stellung = hull down

@redwolf: I meant legal as opposed to pirated. Actually, I got noone in the US to relay the CD to me. Any other ways to get my hands on a US-BB?

Thx Brightblade, very informative post! Exposure IMHO cannot be translated directly. However "Gefährung" (danger) or "Gefährdungsanteil" (percentage of danger) or "Auslieferung/Ausgeliefertsein" (~exposure) would be better than "Enttarnung".