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Those are cool pics indeed at that site, but not all the vehicles are identified correctly. The "fine picture of a panzer IV" suffers a bit from the fact that it depicts a panzer III. I wondered why everybody was smiling in those pictures, until I saw Guderian there and realized these are, I guess, propaganda shots.

I read somewhere that shotguns were preferred as a trench-clearing weapon, especially with a 'duckbill' attachment on the muzzle which would limit the spread of shot mostly to a horizontal plane. I think that was about US troops in vietnam. Sounds like a useful part of a squad's weapons mix for any close range fighting. I think also in Jame's Jones' "The Thin Red Line", one of the GI's uses a shotgun. That was based on Jones' experience on Guadalcanal. Has anyone ever heard of a serious attempt to prosecute a soldier for using a .50 cal against personnel? Didn't Audie Murphy even get a Medal of Honor for firing a .50 at German troops?

I read somewhere that shotguns were preferred as a trench-clearing weapon, especially with a 'duckbill' attachment on the muzzle which would limit the spread of shot mostly to a horizontal plane. I think that was about US troops in vietnam. Sounds like a useful part of a squad's weapons mix for any close range fighting. I think also in Jame's Jones' "The Thin Red Line", one of the GI's uses a shotgun. That was based on Jones' experience on Guadalcanal. Has anyone ever heard of a serious attempt to prosecute a soldier for using a .50 cal against personnel? Didn't Audie Murphy even get a Medal of Honor for firing a .50 at German troops?

Regarding the earlier mention of Soviet use of tanks/SP guns for indirect fire- I read, somewhere in one of these forums IIRC, that indirect fire was one of the major roles of the SU-76. That makes sense considering its thin armor.

It's only appropriate for teenagers to be into CM. Many soldiers, after all, are teenagers. (I was one) Plus, as Bill Cosby used to say on the Fat Albert Show, "...and if you're not careful, you might learn something."

Bravo, Aristoteles. I like that 'clubs' marking.

Hun Hunter, in answer to your question, the book covers the 761st involvement in liberating both Dachau and Buchenwald. Quoting Johnnie Stevens of the 761st from the book- "We were only there [buchenwald] a little while, because as tankers we didn't stay anywhere long, we'd keep on moving. We shot up the place and chased the guards out of there. It was a sight I never want to see again, I'll tell you that." and Leonard "Smitty" Smith of the 761st on Dachau- "We didn't know what it was until the firing stopped, and all of a sudden, we see these prisoners come back out. Buck naked, looked like skeletons, just crawling" Just one more quote from Liberators,a reference to a writing by Elie Wiesel- "the most moving moment of my life was the day the Americans arrived. It was the morning of April 11. I will always remember with love a big black soldier. He was crying like a child-tears of all the pain in the world and all the rage. Everyone who was there that day will forever feel a sentiment of gratitude to the American soldiers who liberated us."

According to Liberators, a very informative and eye- opening book, the 761st normally operated while divided into smaller units attached to other formations, so it might be impossible to separate their German casualty statistics from those acheived by the other US units involved. Also, the book shows a Chaffee tank of the 761st, so apparently they were not strictly limited to Shermans and M5's. By the way, it also shows Black marines being trained in 1943.

In reference to the MouseBert's post just above- if it's worth it to you, you can get an old MaC or iMAC on ebay for just a couple of hundred dollars, which ought to run the game just fine. Considering the long term entertainment value of the CM games, it might be a justifiable expenditure.

I found the problem! I just found a thread by rmorton from Jan/Feb '04 in which he had the same problem, and realized that the installer for some reason had not done a complete install. So I deleted CMAK and reinstalled it (this time in the German version, in case the English had some flaw on my CD) and now it runs fine. I've got those Matilda's crawling like snails all over the desert landscape and I'm perfectly happy. I guess the lesson here is - don't take the installer's performance for granted. Many many thanks, Schrullenhaft, for your generous assistance! Your diligence and expertise are much appreciated. Cheers, A co

Yes, the full version of CMBB runs perfectly just as the machine is now. Checking the CMAK demo, I notice that a few of the terrain tiles and the walls of one house are black in the first scenario...perhaps I should have taken that as a warning. I have 320 MB of RAM. Yes, the Rage Pro has 8MB of VRAM. I changed to "thousands" of colors, and on an impulse upgraded to CMAK version 1.1. Still no effect on the problem. Any more ideas before I consider upgrading to OS 9.2, which may cause problems for my CMBB without guaranteeing a fix for CMAK? Thanks for the consultation, schrullenhaft.

I just got CMAK, and when I try to start it up, I get a black screen and the computer freezes up. Hitting the escape key doesn't help. Force quit doesn't help (sometimes I can get the force quit dialogue box, sometimes not) My video card is ATI Rage128Pro. The computer is an old original-type imac G3. I run only OS 9.1 (The CMAK demo worked fine for me, as does CMBB) In the troubleshooting guide it suggests turning off anti-aliasing but I can't seem to find how to do that. Is it possible to turn off anti aliasing on a mac? If that's not the solution, can someone recommend a better video card for me to use? A recommendation for, or a warning against, an updated driver? Also, can the video card even be replaced on an imac? Any help will be much appreciated!

I have a book (War Without Garlands by Robt Kershaw) that shows a German early war tactic of using AT guns, pushed by their crews, in the streets of villages or towns to support advancing infantry. The halftracks stay out of the town. I'm sure we've all seen lots of photos also of PAK's in the streets of towns. My question is- isn't it extremely risky to bring guns into a town, rolling them around in the open streets? What I read suggests that they were not there primarily for use against tanks, but to shell enemy infantry in buildings. Seems like any maxim in the neighborhood could cause them to be abandoned pretty quick...

Even if you are hiding at the beginning of the game, your vehicle may still be spotted anyway. One thing to be aware of is that, as I recall, unless it is summer, scattered trees provide only limited concealment. In winter it's just trying to hide a tank behind some sticks.

For those interested in stalingrad- look for a book called "Last Letters from Stalingrad." Amazing stuff. A few are reprinted in the American Heritage History of WW2, as I recall. a gunner writing home that they have only two rounds left. A gunner writing about seeing a Russian tank driver pinned in the hatch of his burning tank. An officer seeing a map at his HQ and realizing,"Hitler has abandoned us!" Tankers crying at the loss of their tank. And so on. And probably the most memorable phrase of anything I've read about the war: "Little Muller has lost both his arms."

One of Audie Murphy's achievements was the destruction of an immobilized tank by rifle grenade. There's a story in a history of the 101st of a soldier scoring a rifle grenade hit through the open top hatch of a german tank. The narrator wrote "we out-hollywooded Hollywood." Despite this, I don't think this was considered a very serious or dependable AT weapon.

Oops. You were playing CMBO? Never mind.

What you were facing there, Oddbod, was the Soviet ampulomet team. The game shows them as "antitank team" when you spot them. Max range 250 metres, I recall. They seem to miss their target pretty often, but they definately kill some tanks now and then. It launches molotov cocktails. I kind of like them because I never heard of them before I played CMBB. I think the Panzerschreck is the best infantry AT team, for range and killing power. The ultimate best is the Finnish 3 man Panzerschreck team- more survivable and carries more ammo! (I think the Germans only have 2 man teams)

You are correct there, mrpwase. What I am suggesting is a scenario in which you take, say, 1 or 2 platoons of infantry, perhaps jaeger or recon infantry, with lots of grenade bundles, plus 1 or 2 platoons of actual pioneers, and use the whole bunch to represent a pioneer company armed for urban fighting. (Actually, I don't know whether pioneers normally fought together as whole companies, but that's the case in this operation I downloaded) I checked and found that in later years the pioneers are indeed better armed with smg's and MP44's anyway.

I hope this is not off-topic, but I've been getting interested in the invasion of Poland in '39 and I was wondering if anyone knows of a wargame (other than CM work-arounds) that covers it on a tactical level.

Looks good to me! Are the X's on the fuel tanks something you saw in a photo?

I have had some of the same frustrations with quick battles. I guess it just shows the value of a human-designed scenario, where all these issues are treated deliberately. On the other hand, dealing with bad terrain or inapropriate forces can be a good 'learning experience' if you don't judge yourself too harshly when you find the odds insurmountable.

PzIIIL vs T-34/76 is a good even match-up, and makes for really suspenseful tank duels. When the opponents are that equal you are challenged to use your good tactics to win. All you scenario designers out there...

Yes, Makjager, that's CMBB I was talking about. Joachim, that's a great story! If only we could claim that such lucky events were all according to our plans! I am now playing an operation in which my forces are almost all pioneers, and they are having a really hard time because most of them are armed only with rifles. (Nov '42) I can't remember whether pioneer teams are better armed in other years, or if there are different versions of pioneer units, but I keep imagining that pioneers would normally use as many SMG's as possible, beyond their official issued weapons. I know I've heard the term Sturmpionier somewhere... I think to represent a historical pioneer unit, especially in urban fighting, one should include regular infantry platoons using SMG's and grenade bundles as well. I admit I am guessing about this.

This has just happened to me twice- pioneer squads moving past known minefields spontaneously threw their satchel charges at the mines, killing nearby friendly troops. The pioneers in question were doing movement to contact in one case, sneaking in the other. I lost 7 men in each incident, many of whom were crack or veteran pioneers! So I recommend taking out minefields right away if you will be having pioneers in the area at all. (Though when I deliberately targeted the next minefield, the poineers ignored it for several turns until I gave up trying.)