Mikko H.

While it's true that Germany probably had the least capable intelligence services of all the major players, on Hitler's level it wasn't that much the question of bad intelligence, but of refusing to heed the (good) intelligence. There were plenty of intelligence around that, for example, Britain and France were going to fight, and that the USA was formidable opponent. Hitler thought he knew better. Of course, it didn't help that Hitler (like all dictators) had his sycophants who told him just what he wanted to hear.

But why is Tiger I called PzKpfw VI Ausf. E and Tiger II (King Tiger) PzKpfw VI Ausf. B???

Yes he was. Yup. If you screw up in massive scale, it's better to go all the way than to admit how stupid you were. Now, imagine how much different place the world would be if certain political leaders would have slapped their heads and exclaimed "Goddam, how stupid I have been! My apologies!": - Hitler anytime after Stalingrad - Mussolini anytime after June 1940 - Stalin just after Barbarossa Stalin got away with it, but then, he seemed to be the only who had any sense of humour at all.

Are you sure? Finns captured a number of these guns during the Winter War of 1939-40. IIRC, the gun's model was m1938. Are you referring to the 45 mm m1942? Or was the production halted, and restarted after June 1941?

There seems to be a thing or two going for the Fallschirmjäger... in a recent quick battle against the AI one of my airborne 8 cm mortars caused 173 casualties. Note: this was no FO, but single mortar with about 20 rounds!

This whole 'Barbarossa was preventive attack' -crowd reminds me of the creationist side in the evolution vs. creationism controversy. Both exhibit the same qualities, namely utter refusal to listen any arguments and proofs contrary their established opinion, conviction that the 'truth' is being covered up by 'them', belief they will get their point through by repeating the same discredited arguments again and again, ability to ignore all uncomfortable questions and just plain ignorance of the method how the science in question works. To argue with them is generally an exercise in futility, but it just has to be done, so that they can't claim victory.

Not always, at least during & before the WWII. For example the first prototypes of the T-34 were manufactured in late 1939 or early 1940. IIRC the tank got its number after the year a certain degree affecting the tank industry was passed. And the T-50, T-60 and T-70 were light tanks which were used during the WWII.

Posted by Schoerner: This is absolute bollocks. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union because he wanted to conquer 'living space'. Whether the Red Army was concentrated on the German border or not, didn't concern the German leadership the least -- Russkies were just subhumans who could not match Hitler's Aryan legions no matter what. The German archives have for more than 50 years been a subject of intensive research. Not a shred of evidence has ever been found to suggest that Germans were afraid of a Soviet invasion in 1941. Quite the contrary. The German planning for the Barbarossa is well documented. Hitler had always wanted to subjugate the Slavs, and ultimately to enslave or exterminate them. Barbarossa was launched to fulfill this perverse dream.

...and in RL that was the reason why T-44 wasn't used operationally (ok, a very small number may have been tested in battle). T-34-85 got the job done, thus there was no need to burden the logistics by introducing a new tank.

Marshall, MacArthur and Eisenhower during the war. There was also one air corps officer, but just now his name escapes me -- he became a General of the Air Force after the USAF was founded after the war. One four-star officer, IIRC Bradley, was promoted to the rank in the 1950's. After the WWI Pershing became a 'General of the Armies of the United States' -- note the plural. This was a special rank, and he never wore more than four stars, even if the rank is considered senior to General of the Army. A number of senior Union officers were promoted to the rank of General of the Army after the Civil War. But it's hard to say whether it could be considered equal to the WWII-era rank of the same name -- the four-star rank of full general didn't exist in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Uh... Just yesterday, three rounds from a 81 mm mortar saved my day by driving the enemy infantry platoon from the victory flag. Whatever is worthless, it's not the mortars.

I would rather say jury's still out. This is one of the greatest ongoing controversies.

I beg to disagree. One Japanese company (whose name escapes me) had it available in two versions (1/72) in the early 1980's. I got the one in its railway carriage as a birthday-present back then (I had briefed my mother well). However, I never came around building it, and it probably still is intact somewhere in my old home.

The Soviet 37 mm AT-gun (now modeled by the German 75 mm AT-gun). BTW, the gun in the BT-42 was the British 4.5" howitzer, a number of which was received during the Winter War.

Thanks for your responses, people! As for the duplicate BMP's, I guess I calmly sit down to wait for the future patches. Zulu, I have no problem with the 'cencorship' thing. I understand why things are as they are in the European version, I only mentioned the mods in case they influenced the BMP's in the cases I mentioned. The first batch of 30 StuG IIIg's arrived Finland between July and September 1943. They reached the Assault Gun Battalion in September 1943, which commenced the training immediately. Depending on when one would exactly call a unit combat ready, the StuG-battalion would have been ready for action in November or December 1943. Now, that would be Raskas Panssarintuhoojapataljoona, of course!

I have been a long-time lurker on this forum, and this is my second post. But before I start with nitpicking ("And when I pick a nit, the nit verily knows it has been picked!"), I feel I have to apologize. CMBB is a great game, there's no doubt of it. I just love kicking the fascist butt with a KV-2. (Once in a while I also kick some boshevik butt with certain great felines.) That's why I feel more than a little embarassed to post only in order to complain of certain bugs and issues. I should be praising this game, but here I am, nitpicking! But then, there's not much point posting just to say how great this game is, is there? (Look what happened to MasterGoodale.) My other defence is that I have alienated considerable portion of my friends and acquintances by telling them how great game this is, and how great it is to kick the fascist butt with a KV-2. I've made a small number of converts, too. In fact, just last new year a friend of mine wished me happy new year by yelling from the other side of a rather crowded pub "Kick the fascist butt with a KV-2!" Ok, now I feel I've apologized enough to commence with the nitpicking. I've searced the forum to see if these have been covered in past, and have found no matches. But in case I'm just beating a dead horse, my apologies. My game is the CDV-version 1.01, with a number of 'anti-cencorship' -mods added. I have screen-shots for all these cases if needed. First, the Soviet 37 mm at-gun shares the same bmp as the German 75 mm at-gun. The small picture in the lower part of the screen shows the correct gun. Second, the Finnish BT-42 has the same bmp as the BT-5. This time the small picture in the lower part of the screen is wrong, too. Third, in the game a Finnish armoured platoon leader's rank is given as vänrikki (VÄN; 2nd Lieutenant), but the rank insignia shown in the lower left is luutnantti's (Lieutenant) two golden rosettes (whereas vänrikki has only one). Also, in an earlier thread I read that the Finnish StuG IIIg is available from June 1944 because that was when it was first used in action. Is that the general rule in deciding the dates of availability? I ask because I feel that a more sensible approach would be to have the equipment available from the date they historically were ready for battle. This is not that much an issue for the Soviets and Germans, who saw action for all the time from June 1941 to May 1945, but for the Finns it's a different matter. It's true the Finnish StuGs didn't see action before June 1944. But the Rynnäkkötykkipataljoona (Assault Gun Battalion) was re-equipped with StuGs and ready for battle by the end of 1943, IIRC (I can check the exact dates at home). Thus, if the Soviet offensive had started in, say, April 1944, the Finnish StuGs would have seen action then. As the availability stands now, what-if battles are impossible. Ok, now I have this load off my chest. I'll go and kick some fascist butt. [ January 10, 2003, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Mikko H. ]

Try posting your question here: Feldgrau forum Section 'Uniforms and awards' should be the one. [ January 10, 2003, 06:36 AM: Message edited by: Mikko H. ]